As per the United Nations, 97 percent of Afghanistan's population might be pushed underneath the poverty line unless the country's political and economic crises are addressed.

According to a report released on Thursday by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the poverty level in Afghanistan might rise by up to 25% as a result of the country's real GDP decline (GDP). Half of the country is already in desperate need of humanitarian assistance.

“You have a budgetary shock. You have a reserve shock. If the reserves, you know some $9bn, are to be completely frozen … then you have a trade shock. You have an interruption in domestic and international trade,” Abdallah Al Dardari, UNDP’s resident representative in Afghanistan, said to Al Jazeera.

“Usually in a country of this situation, the international financial institutions such as the IMF [International Monetary Fund], the World Bank, and all the bilateral and multilateral financial institutions would get together with the UN and propose an economic reform program. We know this is not going to happen,” he said.

Even before the Taliban's quick takeover last month, Afghanistan was highly reliant on aid, with foreign help accounting for more than a third of the country's GDP.

The United Nations is pushing the Taliban to allow aid workers to perform their duties.

“Let the civil society, local community organizations, manage the [ongoing] projects. Let them implement it. We are not asking for anything. Just don’t obstruct it,” Al Dardari said.

Earlier this week, foreign relief organizations warned of an “impending humanitarian crisis” in Afghanistan, with the medical charity Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans frontières Frontières, or MSF) claiming the country's frail healthcare system was on the verge of collapsing.

The United Nations has warned that 18 million people in Afghanistan face a humanitarian catastrophe and that the crises would be numerous and multifaceted.

“There would be multiple crises: internal displacement, migration, people fleeing the country, people joining illicit businesses,” Al Jazeera quoted Al Dardari. “I think the opium trade will flourish, much more than it is today – simply because there are no other jobs. Domestic violence will increase, too. Our duty is to step in now.”

Following the Taliban's takeover of power, which resulted in an exodus of aid workers and subsequent budget cuts, the UN requested almost $200 million in additional financing for life-saving relief in Afghanistan.