Afghan Man Says Water Bottle Sold For $40, Plate of Rice Worth $100 At Kabul Airport

Food and water are being sold at ridiculous prices to Afghans who are frantically trying to exit the country. According to one local, a bottle of water now costs $40 and a meal of rice costs $100.

Another person claimed in a video shared by Reuters that women and children were in a "miserable situation" at the airport due to overcrowding. After realizing that the Americans were withdrawing civilians from Afghanistan, another person claims he was there to go abroad.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said per News18 that up to 1,500 American civilians may still need to be evacuated from Afghanistan. The Taliban have agreed to allow some departures after US forces leave the country on Aug. 31.

Blinken told reporters that out of the 6,000 Americans that wanted to leave Afghanistan, at least 4,500 have left. Officials have been in "direct communication" with another 500 Americans who want to leave, according to him, and have given them "particular advice on how to get to the airport securely."

The Guardian said the World Food Programme (WFP) has expressed concern that the country would run out of food by September.

Andrew Patterson, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization's deputy country director in Afghanistan, said that they are now transporting food through Pakistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

“Winter is coming,” he said as quoted by The Guardian. “We are going into the lean season and many Afghan roads will be covered in snow. We need to get the food into our warehouses where it needs to be distributed.”

He added: “We’ve got 20,000 metric tonnes of food in the country now, we’ve got 7,000 metric tonnes on the way.”

The WHO had previously stated that the airport closure had hampered its supplies.

Since the Taliban took power in Kabul, Afghanistan has gone through a political and social revolution.

In a tweet, Acting President Amrullah Saleh blamed the insurgents for preventing food shipments from reaching the Andrab Valley.

“Talibs aren’t allowing food and fuel to get into Andarab valley, he tweeted. “The humanitarian situation is dire. Thousands of women and children have fled to the mountains.”

He charged the group with kidnapping children and elderly people and using them as human shields.