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Thursday April 24, 2025

US aid cuts threaten millions of Afghans with famine: UN

Third of population of around 45m people needs food assistance, with 3.1m people on brink of famine, says UN

By AFP
April 13, 2025
An Afghan refugee along with her children arrives at a registration centre in Takhta Pul district of Kandahar, Afghanistan, on April 7, 2025, upon their arrival from Pakistan. — AFP
An Afghan refugee along with her children arrives at a registration centre in Takhta Pul district of Kandahar, Afghanistan, on April 7, 2025, upon their arrival from Pakistan. — AFP

KABUL: Fresh US cuts to food assistance risk worsening already widespread hunger in Afghanistan, according to the World Food Programme, which warned it can support just half the people in need -- and only with half rations.

In an interview with AFP, WFP’s acting country director Mutinta Chimuka urged donors to step up to support Afghanistan, which faces the world’s second-largest humanitarian crisis.

A third of the population of around 45 million people needs food assistance, with 3.1 million people on the brink of famine, the UN says.

“With what resources we have now barely eight million people will get assistance across the year and that’s only if we get everything else that we are expecting from other donors,” Chimuka said.

The agency already has been “giving a half ration to stretch the resources that we have,” she added.

In the coming months, WFP usually would be assisting two million people “to prevent famine, so that’s already a huge number that we’re really worried about,” Chimuka said.

Already grappling with a 40 percent drop in funding for this year globally, and seeing a decline in funding for Afghanistan in recent years, WFP has had to split the standard ration -- designed to meet the daily minimum recommended 2,100 kilocalories per person.