UN warns of escalating hunger crisis in Afghanistan

Afghanistan is grappling with a hunger crisis of "devastating proportions," according to the United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP). The agency reports it can now only assist one in every nine malnourished children in the country due to significant cuts in development aid from donor nations.

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The WFP can now only support one in nine malnourished children.

John Aylieff, the WFP Country Director for Afghanistan, warned that the level of malnutrition has reached an unprecedented scale. In the first quarter of this year alone, 47 percent of minors were found to be undernourished. UN estimates suggest over 48 million people live in Afghanistan.

Aylieff cautioned that the consequences of this extreme hunger are likely to extend beyond Afghanistan's borders. "Extreme hunger drives migration and radicalization and ultimately leads to instability," he stated, adding, "As history shows, instability does not tend to stop at borders."

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Malnutrition has reached an unprecedented scale.

The WFP has only received a fraction of the $900 million it budgeted for Afghanistan this year, securing just over 10 percent. Despite expectations of a good harvest, this offers little relief as the number of people needing food assistance continues to rise. Compounding the issue, approximately six million Afghans have been forced to return from neighboring countries in the past three years, while the German government is also increasing deportations to Afghanistan. The country has been under Taliban rule since the withdrawal of international troops in 2021, leading to a drastic deterioration in the human rights situation.

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Extreme hunger drives migration and radicalization and ultimately leads to instability. As history shows, instability does not tend to stop at borders.