KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The United Nations has scaled back its 2025 humanitarian aid appeal for Afghanistan, reducing it from $2.42 billion to $1.62 billion to assist 12.5 million people in urgent need.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) clarified that the 33% reduction was due to a funding crisis, not a decrease in need for assistance.
“Given dramatic funding cuts, the humanitarian community in Afghanistan has urgently reprioritized its response plan,” OCHA said. “Initial targets have been refocused to address the most severe needs of 12.5 million people. $1.62 billion is needed to reach those most in need.”
OCHA identified 145 of Afghanistan’s 401 districts as priority areas. Of these, 95 were classified as facing the highest level of need, based on inter-sectoral assessments.
The UN had initially aimed to reach 16.8 million of the 22.9 million people in need across Afghanistan through a $2.42 billion appeal. However, a significant funding gap, worsened by the recent suspension of US aid, has forced a reduction in both the scope of the plan and the number of people it can support.
Humanitarian operations in Afghanistan have struggled with major funding shortfalls in recent years. The UN’s $3.06 billion appeal for 2024 received less than 40% of the required funding. In 2023, a record-breaking $4.6 billion appeal was later reduced to $3.2 billion, with only 52% funded.
The UN has stressed that the reduced appeal and target population do not reflect improvements on the ground, but rather a decline in international support for Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis.
