Gordon Brown: west is sleepwalking into Afghanistan disaster

Ex-PM warns poverty and starvation mean country is at risk of world's biggest humanitarian crisis

The west is sleepwalking into the biggest humanitarian crisis of our times" in Afghanistan, Gordon Brown has warned, as he called for a support package to save the country from economic and social collapse after the Taliban's takeover.

Four months after the western-backed government was overthrown following a mass military withdrawal, the former UK prime minister said the case for action was not based only on morals but also in our self-interest".