World Food Programme: Millions of Afghan Women Watch Their Children Go Hungry

Image: WFP_Afghanistan/X

The World Food Programme (WFP) has warned that millions of women in Afghanistan are witnessing their children suffer from malnutrition, as international aid declines and winter approaches.

John Aylieff, WFP Country Director in Afghanistan, said on Tuesday (11 November):

“Afghan women are watching their children succumb to malnutrition while being cut off from aid and left to face an unimaginable situation. Now is not the time to cut assistance. Winter is coming, we must scale up our support and deliver on the solidarity we promised.”

The warning follows the WFP’s earlier statement that the nutrition crisis in Afghanistan is worsening, particularly among women and children, and that for the first time in decades, a full-scale winter relief operation may not be possible, a crisis the agency described as “entirely preventable.”

Previously, World Vision International had also reported that Afghanistan is facing one of the worst nutrition crises in the world. According to its data, 3.7 million Afghan children suffer from acute malnutrition, with more than one million at immediate risk of death.

Experts say the reduction in international aid, combined with the forced return of Afghan refugees from Pakistan and Iran, has further deepened the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. Women and children remain the most vulnerable; a crisis that, with the onset of winter, risks turning into a silent catastrophe.