KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – One in five children in Afghanistan could face crisis-level of hunger before October as a result of significant funding cuts, according to Save the Children.
In a report released on Thursday, the agency said nearly five million children—about 20% of the country’s child population—are experiencing “crisis” or “emergency” levels of food shortages.
According to the report, funding for food assistance has been dropped by 40%, reducing the number of people targeted for support from 14% to just 1% of the population before October 2025.
Save the Children also says it has lost funding for 14 health facilities in northern and eastern Afghanistan and is currently relying on short-term resources to keep them running.
The agency warns that the closure of these clinics would mean nearly 7,000 children would miss monthly screenings for acute malnutrition, while over 27,000 people—including around 13,000 children—would lose access to basic healthcare.
According to Save the Children, nearly 3.5 million children aged six to 59 months were projected to suffer from acute malnutrition between July 2024 and May 2025, including around 870,000 cases of severe acute malnutrition.
The humanitarian situation in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan has worsened in recent years. The UN says nearly 23 million people need humanitarian aid in 2025, including 16.8 million who are considered a priority.
Women and children are particularly at risk. The World Food Programme (WFP) predicts more than 3.5 million children will suffer malnutrition in 2025 — about one child every ten seconds.
Humanitarian groups warn that sharp funding cuts are threatening life-saving programme. The US, once the largest donor, has stopped some aid over concerns about Taliban control, making the crisis worse.
The UN’s aid agency, OCHA, says millions fewer people will receive help in 2025 without US funding.
