Senior UN officials says 97% of Afghans live in poverty

Martin Griffiths, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator told a Security Council meeting this week that 97 percent of Afghans live in poverty.

He also said that two thirds of the population need humanitarian assistance and 20 million people face acute hunger.

According to Griffiths, half the population in Afghanistan urgently needs access to clean water and sanitation, while 1.1 million teenage girls are still banned from school and nearly seven million Afghan nationals remain in neighboring countries.