VANCOUVER, CANADA – The World Food Programme (WFP) faces a critical budget crisis, severely restricting its capacity to provide food assistance to only one million people in Afghanistan until October. This development starkly contrasts with the urgent need for food aid among 12 million Afghans, crucial for their survival.
In a recent update on X today, June 26, WFP emphasized the pressing requirement for funding to address Afghanistan’s dire humanitarian situation.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, a staggering 23.7 million people in Afghanistan are in need of humanitarian assistance this year.
WFP highlighted that their relief efforts have prioritized support for 17 million people, necessitating a budget of $3.06 billion.
Secretary-General António Guterres, in his recent report to the UN Security Council, noted that only 16% of this required funding had been secured as of May 15 this year.
Last year, humanitarian organizations, including WFP, encountered budget shortages while striving to aid vulnerable individuals in Afghanistan, prompting repeated calls for increased international support.
Earlier, on September 5, 2023, WFP announced drastic cuts to food assistance in Afghanistan, impacting 10 million vulnerable people due to severe funding shortages.
The funding gap forced WFP to limit emergency aid to approximately 3 million hungry individuals, leaving millions more at risk of starvation. This includes 1.4 million pregnant women, infants, and young children who will no longer receive essential nutritional support.
In response to escalating food insecurity worsened by devastating floods in northern Afghanistan on May 22, 2024, WFP issued a dire warning. These floods, exacerbated by heavy seasonal rains, affected 80,000 people, claiming 300 lives, destroying over 1,000 homes, and compounding financial losses in a population already burdened by poverty and conflict.
Consequently, WFP has initiated an appeal for $14.5 million to bolster emergency food aid and resilience-building projects. These efforts aim to halt further deterioration of food security and aid affected communities in recovering from the crisis.
