KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – UNICEF has called for $949.1 million in funding to support 12 million people, including 6.5 million children, in Afghanistan during the current year.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the UN Children’s Fund said the funding is needed to provide life-saving humanitarian assistance and essential services to people in urgent need across the country.
UNICEF said the funds would be used both to respond to immediate humanitarian needs and to strengthen the long-term resilience of communities, ensuring that every child in Afghanistan has the opportunity to survive and thrive.
The agency warned that Afghans continue to face a combination of overlapping crises, including natura disasters, shrinking humanitarian space, a fragile economy, limited access to basic services, and climate-related shocks – all of which are hindering recovery after more than four decades of conflict.
UNICEF also said the protection crisis is worsening, with women of reproductive age, children, young people, and marginalized groups facing increasing risks.
In the statement, UNICEF highlighted what it described as a “structural rights crisis” affecting women and girls in Afghanistan. It said bans on secondary education for girls and restrictions on women’s participation in the workforce, along with severe limitations on daily life, have increased protection risks and threatened the long-term resilience of Afghan society.
“The impacts will be felt for generations to come,” the agency warned.
UNICEF stressed that as conditions continue to deteriorate, its continued presence in Afghanistan is essential to provide critical services and to protect the most vulnerable.
The agency added that out of the 21.9 million people expected to need humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan in 2026, 12 million are children.
Earlier, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) requested $1.72 billion to support vulnerable people in the country.
