Aid groups need $550 million to confront worsening Afghan crisis - U.N.

Afghan firefighters and municipal workers try to clean debris from the site of suicide attack in Kabul, Afghanistan January 10, 2017. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani

KABUL (Reuters) - International aid groups needs more than a half a billion dollars this year to help millions of Afghans struggling with increased violence and a bleak economy, as a humanitarian crisis worsens, a senior U.N. official told Reuters.

The United Nations estimates at least 9.3 million Afghans, or nearly a third of the population, will need humanitarian assistance in 2017, a 13 percent increase from last year.