Mothers dey give dia hungry babies sleeping medicine to keep dem alive as food no dey

"Di last time wey I fit buy milk for my baby na two months ago. Normally I go just fill di [feeding] bottle wit tea. Or I soak bread for tea and den feed her," Sohaila Niyazi tok as she sit for di floor of her mud brick home wey dey up for a hill in eastern Kabul.

E no get any roads wey lead to her house - you gatz walk up sloppy mud tracks wia sewage dey flow by di side.

Sohaila na widow. She get six children, her youngest na 15-month-old girl named Husna Fakeeri.

Di tea wey Sohaila dey refer na wetin dem dey traditionally drink for Afghanistan, dem make am wit green leaves and hot water, without any milk or sugar. E no get any nutritional value for her baby.

Sohaila na one of di 10 million pipo wey don stop to dey receive emergency food assistance from di UN World Food Programme (WFP) ova di past year - dis cut na becos of a massive funding shortfall.

Na very crushing blow, especially for di estimated two million households women dey run for Afghanistan.

Under Taliban rule, Sohaila tok say she no fit go out to work and feed her family.

"E get nights wen we no get anytin wey we go chop. I say to my children, wia I go fit beg for dis time of di night? Dem go sleep wit empty belle and wen dem wake up I dey always wonder wetin I go do.

"If a neighbour bring us some food di children go begin dey struggle for am, saying 'give me, give me'. I go try split am between dem to calm tem down," Sohaila say.

To calm her hungry baby girl, Sohaila say she go give her "sleep medicine".

"I dey give am so dat she no go wake up and ask for milk becos I no get milk to give her. After I give her di medicine, she sleep from one morning to di next one," Sohaila tok.

"Sometimes I go check to see if she dey alive or dead."

We bin ask about di medicine she dey give her daughter and find say na di common antihistamine or anti-allergy drug. Sedation (to dey drug pesin to sleep na side effect.

Doctors bin tell us say as e dey less harmful dan di 'tranquilisers and anti-depressants' wey we find say some Afghan parents dey give dia hungry children, in higher doses di medicine fit cause wahala for di respiratory system.

Sohaila say her husband na civilian wey dem kill for crossfire in Panjshir province in 2022, for di fight between Taliban forces and doz wey dey resist Taliban rule.

Afta im death, she bin depend heavily on di aid wey WFP dey give - na flour, oil and beans.

Now di WFP say e only fit provide supplies to three million pipo - e dey less dan a quarter of doz wey dey experience serious hunger.

Sohaila dey entirely rely on di donations from relatives or neighbours.

For much of di time wey we dey dia, baby Husna dey quiet and inactive.

She dey malnourished, one of more dan three million children suffering from di condition for di kontri, according to Unicef. More dan a quarter of dem get di worst form serious malnutrition. Na di worst e ever be for Afghanistan, according to di United Nations.

And while malnutrition dey ravage di youngest one for di kontri, aid wey don prevent healthcare from collapsing don dey withdrawn.

Di International Committee of di Red Cross (ICRC) dey pay di salaries of health workers, and funding medicines and food for more dan 30 hospitals - one emergency measure wey dem implement following di regime change for 2021.

Now e no get di resources to kontinu, and dem don withdraw aid from most health facilities, including Afghanistan only children hospital, Indira Gandhi Children Hospital in Kabul.

"Di salary of doctors and nurses come from di goment now. Dem don get dia pay cut by half," Dr Mohammad Iqbal Sadiq, di Taliban-appointed medical director of di hospital, bin tell us.

Di hospital don also close dia outpatient department and e dey provide services only for doz wey need to dey admitted to di hospital.

Di malnutrition ward dey full, and on many days, dem gatz fit more dan one child for a bed.

In one corner wey Sumaya sit up. At 14 months she dey weigh as how newborn baby, her tiny face get wrinkle like pesin wey don old.

Next to her na Mohammad Shafi. E dey weigh half of wetin e suppose be for 18 months. Im papa na Taliban fighter wey die for a road accident. Im mama die of sickness.

Wen we pass for im bedside, elderly grandmother Hayat Bibi, come to us as she dey look angry to tell her story.

She say di Taliban help bring her grandson to di hospital, but she no know how dem go survive.

"I dey rely on di mercy of God. I no get anywia else to turn to. I dey totally lost," Hayat Bibi say, her eyes dey swell up. "I dey struggle. My head dey pain me so much and I dey feel like say e fit explode."

We ask di Taliban goment main tok-tok pesin, Zabihullah Mujahid, wetin dem dey do to convince di international community to give more support.

"Aid dey cut becos di economies of kontris wey dey donate no dey do well. And e get two big calamities - Covid and di war for Ukraine. So we no fit expect help from dem. We no go get aid by talking to dem," e tell us.

"We gatz dey self-reliant. Our economy don stabilise and we dey give out mining contracts wey dey create thousands of jobs. But of course, I no dey tok say make dem cut aid becos we still get challenges."

Say e recognise say Taliban policies dey part of di problem too; say donors no wan give money to kontri wia di goment don impose serious restrictions on women?

"If dem dey use aid as a pressure tool den di Islamic Emirate get im own values wey e go safeguard at any cost. Afghans don make big sacrifices fr di past to protect our values and will endure di cutting of aid too," oga Mujahid tok.

Wetin im tok no go comfort many Afghans. Two-thirds of di pipo wey dey di kontri no know wia dia next meal go come from.

For one cold, damp, one-room home off a street for Kabul we bin meet one woman wey say she di Taliban bin stop her from selling fruit, vegetables, socks and oda odd items on di street.

She say dem don detain her once. Dem kill her husband during di war and she get four children to provide for. She no want make her name dey mentioned.

She break down dey begin cry few minutes wey she begin tok about her situation.

"Dem suppose at least allow us to work and earn an honest living. I swear to God we no dey go out to do bad tins. We dey only go to earn food for our children and dem dey harass us like dis," she tok.

She don dey forced to send her 12-year-old son out to work.

"I ask one Taliban brother, wetin I go feed my children if I no earn? E say make I give dem poison but no come outside your home," she tok.

"Two times di Taliban goment bin give me some money, but e no dey close enough."

Bifor di Taliban takeova, three-quarters of public spending bin come from foreign money wey dem give directly to di previous regime. Dem stop am for August 2021, as dem dey send money go same place.

Aid agencies bin step in to provide a temporary help but e dey critical.

Much of dat funding don go.

E dey hard to overstate di condition of di situation. We don see am ova and ova again dis past year.

Millions dey survive on dry bread and water. Some fit no make am through di winter

Additional reporting by Imogen Anderson. Photos by Aamir Peerzada.