The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) announced yesterday it is to resume food aid shipments to Afghanistan in days.
The food will be transported into Afghanistan from Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Iran, the WFP spokesman in Pakistan, Mr Khaled Mansour, confirmed.
"We hope to reach at least 300,000 people who we think will run out of food stocks by sometime next week," he said.
The move was announced as the UNHCR revealed that the Afghanistan capital, Kabul, is now three-quarters empty, with residents fleeing from possible conflict.
It also said that the Taliban is attempting to force men into fighting against the Northern Alliance.
The Irish aid agency, Concern, is also hoping to return to the North East of Afghanistan early next week, the regional director, Mr Dominic McSorley, told The Irish Times.
Concern staff left the region after the attacks on the US, but Mr McSorley, who arrived in Pakistan last week, said the agency now feels it is safe to return.
Concern has purchased food supplies and some winter tents in Tajikistan to bring over the border.
Mr McSorley repeated the warning that if supplies are not in place before winter sets in mid-November, many people may die.
WFP, the main food aid agency in Afghanistan, is planning to distribute supplies in co-operation with NGOs.
The food shipments will be resumed on a trial basis to northern and western Afghanistan, the areas at the heart of the crisis.
Shipments had been suspended since September 12th, when WFP's staff were withdrawn from Afghanistan following the attacks.
Using existing stocks, WFP has been able to feed up to a million people using its local staff.
Mr Mansour said he expected WFP to distribute wheat and other food aid initially. The immediate focus was to hire the trucks to ensure food reached the needy.
He said the food crisis has heightened risks of disease: "When you have severe food shortages, people become more vulnerable."
According to WFP, families are walking for two weeks to find food and shelter. There are reports of starving people eating grass.
There are also reports that the Taliban is using forced conscription to fill its ranks as the Northern Alliance prepares a new offensive.
A spokesman for the UNHCR, Mr Rupert Colville, said some Afghan families from Heart were held up by the Taliban which forced the men to join its ranks. "The lights are going out in Afghanistan," he said.
There were unconfirmed reports yesterday that the Taliban has been hit by desertions, and had been forced to withdraw from some areas.