NEW DELHI: United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warned of a looming "humanitarian catastrophe" in Afghanistan following the US withdrawal and urged the international community to provide aid to support its populace.

UN chief urged all nations to help the people of Afghanistan “in their darkest hour of need,” saying that almost half the population needs humanitarian assistance to survive and the country faces the threat of basic services collapsing completely.

"I urge all Member States to dig deep for the people of Afghanistan in their darkest hour of need," Guterres said in a statement. "I urge them to provide timely, flexible and comprehensive funding. I urge them to help ensure humanitarian workers have the funding, access, and legal safeguards they need to stay and deliver."

He offered some grim statistics of the looming “humanitarian catastrophe”: 18 million Afghans need aid to survive, one in three don’t know where their next meal will come from, over half of all children under age 5 are expected to become “acutely malnourished” in the next year, and every day people are losing access to basic goods and services.

“Amid a severe drought and with harsh winter conditions on the horizon, extra food, shelter and health supplies must be urgently fast-tracked into the country,” Guterres said.

The United Nations has "delivered aid to 8 million people" this year and airlifted 12.5 metric tons of medical supplies to the country on Monday, according to Guterres.