Aid for Afghanistan:

Donors have pledged more than $1.1bn to Afghanistan, where poverty and hunger have

“spiralled” since the Taliban took power and foreign aid abruptly dried up, say Emma Farge and Michelle Nicholls on Reuters. Even before the Taliban’s seizure of Kabul, half of the population – 18 million – depended on aid. The situation has been exacerbated by drought, crop failure, rising food prices and a lack of money. No public-sector worker has been paid since July. According to the United Nations’ World Food Programme, 14 million people are now “on the brink of starvation” and the UN high commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi (pictured), has warned of possible mass displacement. Meanwhile, any hopes that the Taliban might form a

“moderate” government were squashed this week after it emerged that more than half of its members “face international sanctions as terrorists”, says David Loyn in

The Spectator. The Taliban have also denied reports that the new deputy prime minister, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, has been killed in a shoot-out with rivals.