Afghanistan crisis: The Taliban expands its "Food for Work" program.
The Taliban have announced plans to expand their Food for Work program, which uses donated wheat to pay 10 of thousands of civil servants. The United Nations (UN) requested $4.4 billion (£3.2 billion) of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan.
According to the United Nations, the funds will be needed this year because more than half of the country's population is in need. The economic and humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan has worsened since the Taliban came to power in August.
A recent Taliban statement highlighted the country's financial crisis. It could also raise questions from donors that the Taliban are using humanitarian aid to fund their government, although strict rules remain on money coming into Afghanistan.
However, humanitarian aid has continued since the Taliban's conquest while foreign governments have tried to prevent so many of people from starving.
The wheat, donated mainly by India to the former US-backed Afghan government, is now being used by the Taliban to pay something 40,000 workers 10 kg of grain a day, agriculture officials said.
They added that the program, which mainly pays workers in the capital, Kabul, will be rolled out across the country.
The Taliban have received 18 tonnes of wheat from Pakistan on a pledge of 37 tonnes. They are in talks with India for more than 55 tonnes, according to Fazel Bari Fazli, deputy minister of administration or finance at Afghanistan's Ministry of Agriculture.
He did not tell how much of the newly donated wheat could be used to pay workers and how much would be given as humanitarian aid.
In recent months, the country's finances have been hit hard by several significant problems, including sanctions against members of the Taliban, freezing of central bank balances, and the suspension of foreign aid that supported the economy until last year.
"We are entering 2022 with an unprecedented state of emergency among ordinary women, men, and children in Afghanistan. 24.4 million people need humanitarian assistance - more than half the population.
The United Nations stressed that Afghanistan is now in the midst of one of the worst droughts in decades, along with several crises the country has experienced.