KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The World Food Programme (WFP) says it urgently needs $350 million to maintain lifesaving food assistance and nutrition operations in Afghanistan over the next six months.
In a statement, the agency warned that severe funding shortfalls, combined with mass refugee returns and overlapping crises, are pushing millions deeper into hunger and acute malnutrition.
WFP highlighted a near-record surge in malnutrition cases, with nearly five million mothers and children currently in need of urgent treatment and humanitarian support.
WFP Deputy Executive Director Carl Skau, who recently visited the country, described the situation as critical after seeing the crisis firsthand.
“This week I met malnourished mothers and children who travelled for over two hours to reach a WFP-supported clinic in Hisar Shahi camp, only to be turned away because we have no nutritious supplements left to give them,” Skau said.
“What I saw in eastern Afghanistan is happening across the country, and it is heartbreaking and totally unacceptable,” he added.
Skau also visited the Torkham border crossing with Pakistan, where he witnessed increasing numbers of Afghan families returning.
“We are also seeing vulnerable families crossing the border from Pakistan in growing numbers,” Skau said. “Many of them coming to a country where they know no one, have no place to go and have no idea where their next meal will come from.”
“Single mothers and families with young children make up a significant share of these returnees,” he added.
The WFP further stated that the agency is working to keep aid flowing by opening new supply corridors, prioritizing the most vulnerable communities, and coordinating closely with other UN agencies and partners. However, the agency emphasized that these steps will not be sufficient without immediate additional donor funding and continued humanitarian access through key border points.
Afghanistan remains one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, with the United Nations estimating that nearly 22 million people, almost half the population, require humanitarian assistance this year following decades of conflict, economic collapse, drought, and recurring natural disasters.
The UN and humanitarian organizations have warned that, without urgent and sustained assistance, the situation will continue to deteriorate — placing thousands of lives, particularly those of women and children, at risk of starvation.
