The people of Afghanistan need sustainable solutions to avoid a catastrophe, the Norwegian Refugee Council’s country director in Afghanistan said in a statement on Monday.

“Two years since the change of authorities in Afghanistan a humanitarian tragedy is unfolding. The situation is driven by a devastating mix of food insecurity and climate change, funding cuts, operational restrictions, and the absence of effective diplomatic engagement,” Neil Turner said in the statement on the two-year mark of the Islamic Emirate’s takeover.

He said that an estimated 15.3 million Afghans are food insecure with acute malnutrition recorded above the emergency threshold in 25 out of 34 provinces adding that more than halfway through the year the humanitarian response plan targeting more than 21 million people is less than 25 percent funded.

“The Afghan people need long-term sustainable solutions to end the humanitarian crisis. This must include efforts to promote greater economic stability including a functioning banking sector and connection to the international financial system. Without progress on the economy, including the resumption of long-term development assistance, sustainable solutions will never be achieved,” Turner said.

NRC urged the authorities in Afghanistan to “uphold their obligations as duty bearers, towards all members of the population, including enabling unhindered and principled humanitarian access and education for women and girls.”

It called on the international community to “sustain humanitarian funding to stabilize the crisis and to step-up diplomatic engagement to find constructive ways forward for Afghanistan as peoples’ lives and futures depend on it.”