WFP Warns Millions of Children and Mothers in Afghanistan Face Severe Winter Food Crisis

KABUL/GENEVA – The World Food Programme (WFP) has issued a stark warning that millions of vulnerable Afghans, particularly young children and mothers, are confronting a severe and life-threatening hunger crisis as the harsh winter season approaches. The confluence of persistent drought, deep economic instability, and a critical gap in humanitarian funding has created a perfect storm, leaving families desperate and without a safety net.

According to the agency, an estimated 15 million people—over one-third of Afghanistan’s population—are experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity. For the most vulnerable, including 3.3 million children under five and pregnant and breastfeeding women, the situation is particularly dire. These groups face a high risk of severe malnutrition, which can lead to stunted growth, developmental delays, and increased susceptibility to deadly diseases like measles and pneumonia.

“The international community cannot look away now,” said John Aylieff, WFP’s Country Director and Representative in Afghanistan. “Winter in Afghanistan is brutal. For a child already weakened by hunger, a drop in temperature can be a death sentence. Any reduction in assistance at this critical juncture is not just a cut in aid; it is a direct threat to the lives of millions of children.”

The crisis is compounded by years of overlapping emergencies. A devastating multi-year drought has crippled agricultural production, while the economic collapse has erased incomes and driven up prices for basic necessities. Access to essential services like healthcare and clean water remains severely restricted, especially for women and girls, exacerbating the health risks associated with malnutrition.

The WFP, in collaboration with local and international partners, is racing against time to pre-position food supplies in remote, high-altitude regions that will be cut off by snow in the coming weeks. Their efforts include providing specialized nutritious foods to treat and prevent malnutrition in children and mothers, as well as staple food rations to help families survive the winter months.

However, the agency stresses that its operations are severely hampered by a funding shortfall. Competing global crises have stretched donor resources, leading to a dangerous reduction in the scale of aid that can be delivered.

“Now is not the time to cut support; it is the time to increase it,” a WFP statement emphasized. “Immediate and sustained international solidarity is the only way to prevent a catastrophic loss of life.”

The WFP is urgently appealing to governments and donors for critical funding to bridge the gap. They emphasize that timely intervention is not only a moral imperative but also a strategic one, as preventing a full-scale famine now is far more effective and less costly than responding to one later. Without an immediate boost in aid, they warn, Afghanistan faces a winter of unparalleled hardship and a deepening of one of the world’s most severe humanitarian disasters.

 

 

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