Symbolic imageUN warns of surging Afghan hunger as food aid funding falls short
The UN says hunger and malnutrition are rising sharply in Afghanistan, where more than a third of the population needs urgent food assistance. The World Food Programme said on Tuesday it can currently feed only one in nine of the acutely hungry.
What happened
- WFP reports child food insecurity affected 47 per cent of the population in the first quarter of this year.
- Nearly 3.7 million children and 1.2 million pregnant or breastfeeding women are projected to face acute malnutrition in 2026.
- Close to 14 million Afghans are acutely hungry; WFP has halted famine-prevention distributions in some hotspots.
- WFP sought $900 million at the start of the year and has received $130 million.
- OCHA's spokesperson told reporters in New York on Tuesday, 4 August, that people in Bamiyan, Herat, Paktika, Khost and Nuristan describe exhaustion.
The view from outside
The National, a UAE outlet, foregrounds the funding gap and WFP's call for the United States and other donors that stopped funding Afghanistan to return. The Telegraph's dispatch from inside the country centres instead on malnourished mothers and children.
What could happen next
- WFP says it now needs $540 million to cover acute food insecurity over the next six months.
- Whether Washington and other departed donors resume payments is unresolved; no pledges are reported.
- A nine-month closure of the Pakistan border and Middle East supply shortages continue to constrain nutrition programmes.
- OCHA says restrictions on women working and girls attending school limit how far aid reaches.