Aziz Gul, second from right, and her 10-year-old daughter Qandi, centre, outside their home with other family members, near Hera. Qandi's father sold her into marriage without telling his wife, Aziz, taking a down-payment so he could feed his family. AP Photo
Fatima holds her daughter Nazia, 4, who is suffering from acute malnutrition, at their house near Herat, western Afghanistan, December 16, 2021. Two years ago, Nazia was a plump toddler, Fatima says. Aid groups say more than half the population faces acute food shortages. AP Photo
Afghan women at a makeshift clinic run by World Vision at a settlement near Herat. The aid-dependent country’s economy was already teetering when the Taliban seized power in mid-August. The consequences have been devastating for a country battered by four decades of war, a punishing drought and the coronavirus pandemic. AP Photo
Qandi Gul holds her brother outside their home in a camp for those displaced by war and drought near Herat. Qandi's father sold her into marriage without telling his wife, taking a down payment so he could feed his family of five children. AP Photo
An Afghan woman with her children outside a makeshift clinic at a sprawling settlement of mud brick huts housing those displaced by war and drought near Herat. AP Photo
Hamid Abdullah outside a room where his children are playing at a settlement near Herat. Mr Abdullah is selling his young daughters into arranged marriages, desperate for money to treat his chronically ill wife, who is pregnant with their fifth child. AP Photo
Kubra, 57, with her grandchild in a house in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, December 22, 2021. 'We got two sacks of flour last spring that we're still using. After that, we have to have faith that God will help us," Kubra says. Reuters
Guldasta and members of her family in their house at a settlement near Qala-e-Naw, Afghanistan. Guldasta says that after days with nothing to eat, she told her husband to take their son Salahuddin, 8, to the bazaar and sell him to buy food for the others. AP Photo
Aziz Gul, second from right, and her 10-year-old daughter Qandi, centre, outside their home with other family members, near Hera. Qandi's father sold her into marriage without telling his wife, Aziz, taking a down-payment so he could feed his family. AP Photo
Fatima holds her daughter Nazia, 4, who is suffering from acute malnutrition, at their house near Herat, western Afghanistan, December 16, 2021. Two years ago, Nazia was a plump toddler, Fatima says. Aid groups say more than half the population faces acute food shortages. AP Photo
Afghan women at a makeshift clinic run by World Vision at a settlement near Herat. The aid-dependent country’s economy was already teetering when the Taliban seized power in mid-August. The consequences have been devastating for a country battered by four decades of war, a punishing drought and the coronavirus pandemic. AP Photo
Qandi Gul holds her brother outside their home in a camp for those displaced by war and drought near Herat. Qandi's father sold her into marriage without telling his wife, taking a down payment so he could feed his family of five children. AP Photo
An Afghan woman with her children outside a makeshift clinic at a sprawling settlement of mud brick huts housing those displaced by war and drought near Herat. AP Photo
Hamid Abdullah outside a room where his children are playing at a settlement near Herat. Mr Abdullah is selling his young daughters into arranged marriages, desperate for money to treat his chronically ill wife, who is pregnant with their fifth child. AP Photo
Kubra, 57, with her grandchild in a house in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, December 22, 2021. 'We got two sacks of flour last spring that we're still using. After that, we have to have faith that God will help us," Kubra says. Reuters
Guldasta and members of her family in their house at a settlement near Qala-e-Naw, Afghanistan. Guldasta says that after days with nothing to eat, she told her husband to take their son Salahuddin, 8, to the bazaar and sell him to buy food for the others. AP Photo
Aziz Gul, second from right, and her 10-year-old daughter Qandi, centre, outside their home with other family members, near Hera. Qandi's father sold her into marriage without telling his wife, Aziz, taking a down-payment so he could feed his family. AP Photo