A group of non-governmental aid agencies has urged the United States to temporarily halt air strikes on Afghanistan so that food supplies can be sent to hundreds of thousands of needy people before winter sets in.
The current rate of food deliveries and distribution is inadequate to supply enough food by mid-November, said a statement released by a group of private aid agencies.
"All the obstacles to those food deliveries must be lifted," the statement, signed by representatives of Oxfam International, Christian Aid, Action Aid and Islamic Relief, read.
"It is evident now that we cannot, in reasonable safety, get food to hungry people," Oxfam director Ms Barbara Stocking said.
The United Nations estimates 50,000 tonnes of food must get into Afghanistan in the next month to stop tens of thousands of people starving this winter. Only 10,000 tonnes have made it in the last month.
Half a million aid-dependent people will be cut off from supplies by snow in the next four weeks, the aid groups said.