Pakistan’s information minister warned Afghanistan is on the brink of collapse and urged the international community to engage with the Taliban and unfreeze billions of dollars of Afghan assets overseas in order to prevent a humanitarian disaster.

The U.N. warned over half the Afghan population is likely to face acute food insecurity this winter. Forty-five percent of the population — nearly 19 million Afghans — are already experiencing high levels of food insecurity. The economic crisis following the Taliban takeover in August has compounded an already dire situation, marked by massive displacement from the conflict and a severe drought in a majority-rural nation. Afghanistan’s fragile health system is also facing critical shortages of medicine, food for malnourished children, and staff. This is a supervisor in the nursery ward of Kabul’s main children’s hospital.

Marwa: “Our request for the current government is to increase the number of our staff, because every nurse is usually responsible for about four children, and now, due to a lack of staff, every nurse is taking care of 24 children.”

In related news, a Pentagon official told Congress Tuesday the Islamic State in Afghanistan could be capable of attacking the U.S. within six months.