UN agencies on Tuesday asked donors for US$4.4 billion in humanitarian aid for Afghanistan in 2022, calling the funds an "essential stop gap" to ensure the country's future after a period of turmoil marked by the Taliban's seizure of power and a hasty US exit.

The UN says the appeal, which amounts to nearly a quarter of the country's GDP, is the largest ever sought for a single country and is triple the figure it received in 2021 when the US-backed government collapsed.

"This is a stop-gap...