Afghanistan on brink of universal poverty, urgent efforts needed: UN

Adds Taliban response to Afghan protests becoming very violent

The United Nations development agency has said Afghanistan is teetering on the brink of “universal poverty” which could become a reality in the middle of next year unless urgent efforts are made to bolster local communities and their economies.

It said the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan has put 20 years of steady economic gains at risk.

The UN Development Programme outlined four scenarios for Afghanistan following the Taliban's August 15 assumption of power that predict the country's GDP will decline between 3.6 per cent and 13.2 per cent in the next fiscal year starting in June 2022, depending on the intensity of