Afghanistan: Winter, Aid Cuts Deepen Hunger Crisis

By Staff, Agencies

Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis is worsening as harsh winter and aid cuts fuel hunger, Reuters reported Monday, highlighting the plight of vulnerable populations.

In a makeshift tent outside Kabul, Samiullah and his family survive on one daily meal of dry bread and tea. "We have reached a point where we are content with death," said the 55-year-old, as their hardship deepens day by day in a war-torn country.

According to the United Nations’ World Food Programme [WFP], an estimated 17M people in Afghanistan are battling acute hunger, made worse by massive cuts to international aid and a rising population of returnees.

WFP Country Director John Aylieff said the influx of deportees, roughly a 10% increase in Afghanistan’s population, has sharply increased food insecurity.

"Many of these Afghans were working in Iran and Pakistan, and they were sending back remittances," Aylieff said.

"Those remittances were a lifeline for Afghanistan." With that financial support gone and aid programs severely underfunded, an additional 3 million people now face acute hunger.

The WFP warns that 2026 could see an even greater crisis, with an estimated 200,000 more children projected to suffer acute malnutrition.

Winter has pushed Afghanistan’s fragile aid system to the breaking point. "I am forced to manage the winter with these supplies; sometimes we eat, sometimes we don’t," said Zahra Ahmadi, a 50-year-old widow and mother of eight, as overwhelmed food centers struggle to meet growing demand.

Kabul’s Qasaba Clinic now treats 30 malnourished children daily as patient numbers double and supplies run thin, says Dr. Rabia Rahimi Yadgari.

For families like Laila’s, the crisis is personal. Her son briefly recovers with supplements, but hunger returns as the family struggles after her husband lost his job following the Taliban takeover.

Since the Taliban’s return in 2021, sanctions, frozen assets, and mass deportations from Iran and Pakistan have deepened Afghanistan’s economic and humanitarian crisis.