The United Nations aid chief, Martin Griffiths, said on January 25 that he had urged the Taliban authorities to offer more clarity on humanitarian sectors that could be reopened for Afghan women workers, warning that a "famine was looming" as the country faces a harsh winter. Afghanistan is confronting one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, aid agencies say, with more than half of its 38 million population facing hunger and nearly 4 million children suffering from malnutrition. The crisis was compounded when Taliban leadership banned Afghan women from working with NGOs, forcing several aid agencies to suspend their vital work.