Donors pledge $2.44b in aid

International donors have pledged $2.44 billion in humanitarian aid for Afghanistan, the United Nations said, falling short of its target to provide emergency relief.

The world body had been seeking a record $4.4 billion in funding this year.

UN chief Antonio Guterres said the country's economy risks falling into a "death spiral" without urgent aid, with some Afghans already forced to sell their children and body parts to survive.

Some 95 percent of Afghans do not have enough to eat and nine million are at risk from famine, Guterres said.

But at a virtual conference just over half of the ambitious target was reached, it announced 41 nations contributed after Western nations in particular were urged not to abandon the Afghan people, even with attention turned to the war in Ukraine and crises elsewhere.