Lack of funding and the forced repatriation of Afghans from neighboring countries have exacerbated the country's hunger crisis, where some 14 million people suffer from severe food insecurity. The World Food Program said that wasting among children has reached critical levels in a third of the states, while its resources are only sufficient to help one in every 7 women.

Published on: 05/08/2026 - 01:47

The World Food Program warned on Tuesday of the worsening crisis of malnutrition among children in Afghanistan to critical levels, in light of a sharp reduction in aid and an increasing number of children arriving at health centers in dangerous conditions.

The director of the program in Afghanistan, John Iliffe, speaking via video from Kabul to journalists in Geneva, said that the nutrition crisis in the country is “out of control,” adding that it is worsening daily at a time when the UN agency is unable to contain it.

He explained that wasting among children, the most serious form of malnutrition, has reached critical levels in a third of Afghanistan's provinces, noting that conflict, trade disruption, forced returns from neighboring countries, and a significant decline in aid are pushing acute malnutrition rates to unprecedented levels.

Iliff said that last year recorded the largest annual increase in cases of malnutrition, stressing that the situation this year is “worse.”

He added that the number of children being urgently transferred to health centers is increasing rapidly, but a large number of them arrive too late to save them. Children under the age of two constitute 80% of the most serious cases.

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Severe lack of funding

According to Iliffe, the funding available to the World Food Program this year is only enough to help one woman or child out of every 7 who suffer from acute malnutrition.

"We are forced to reject 6 out of every 7, and send them away without anything at all," he said, adding that the groans of children exhausted by malnutrition fill health centers in Afghanistan.

He warned that the crisis may exceed previous estimates and threaten the lives of large numbers of children and mothers for avoidable reasons.

He also warned that hunger drives migration and extremism and ultimately leads to instability, stressing that an unstable Afghanistan is “not in anyone’s interest,” given the history of unrest extending across its borders.

He pointed out that millions of Afghans were forcibly returned during the past three years from neighboring countries, including Iran and Pakistan, which increased pressure inside the country.

14 million suffer from acute hunger

Although crops improved this year, Iliff said that the crises facing Afghanistan have completely offset the impact.

He explained that about 14 million Afghans are currently suffering from acute hunger, while the World Food Program, due to lack of funding, has only been able to provide food for one in every 9 of them.

He added that the UN agency had completely stopped food distributions that were aimed at preventing famine in some of the most vulnerable areas, due to the lack of funding.

The program needed $900 million at the beginning of the year, but has so far received only $130 million.

The UN agency said that it currently needs $540 million to address acute food insecurity in Afghanistan during the next six months.

Iliff called on all donors to return to funding the humanitarian response in Afghanistan, including the United States and other countries that suspended their aid to the country.

France 24/AFP

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