The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) has warned that over 17 million people in Afghanistan are facing severe food insecurity this winter, as hunger and malnutrition continue to worsen across the country. Funding cuts are hampering the delivery of life-saving assistance, the agency added.
According to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report, around three million more Afghans are now experiencing acute hunger compared with last year, when 14.8 million people were affected. Child malnutrition is also expected to rise, with nearly four million children projected to suffer from severe malnutrition over the coming year. WFP cautioned that with malnutrition already at its highest levels in decades and essential services underfunded, access to treatment is becoming increasingly limited.
“WFP has been raising alarms for months about the growing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, and the latest data confirms our worst fears,” said John Aylieff, WFP’s country director in Afghanistan. “Families are skipping meals for days and taking extreme measures to survive. Child deaths are increasing, and the situation could worsen in the coming months.”
Afghanistan faces a harsh winter amid overlapping crises, including drought affecting roughly half the country, widespread job losses, a weakened economy, and recent earthquakes that have left thousands homeless.
Forced returns from neighboring countries are adding further strain. Since the start of the year, approximately 2.5 million Afghans have been sent back from Pakistan and Iran, many arriving malnourished and with limited resources. Nearly as many more are expected to return in 2026.
At the same time, humanitarian funding for Afghanistan has decreased, leaving millions without the assistance that has previously helped curb extreme hunger and malnutrition.
“We need to bring Afghanistan’s crisis back into the headlines to ensure the most vulnerable receive the attention they need,” Aylieff said, urging renewed international support.
For the first time in decades, WFP said it cannot launch a large-scale winter response while maintaining nationwide emergency food and nutrition programs. The agency urgently requires $468 million to provide life-saving food assistance to six million of Afghanistan’s most vulnerable people throughout the winter.
