Food aid to two million people in Afghanistan will be cut this month, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday. Forced to take drastic measures, citing a "huge lack of funding," WFP will be able to provide emergency assistance to only three million people a month across the country only from October.
"Against the backdrop of already alarming levels of hunger and malnutrition, we are forced to choose between hungry and starving, as a result of which millions of families are forced to fight for their next meal," said Xiao-Wei Li, country director and representative of WFP in Afghanistan.
According to the organization, the total number of people in need in this country is approaching fifteen million.
The reduction in funding means that 1.4 million pregnant women, young mothers and their children will no longer receive the specialized nutrition they need, the UN noted. In the coming months, WFP expects a sharp increase in the number of visits to nutrition centers, as it is becoming increasingly difficult for children to survive in such conditions.
"In conditions of already high levels of hunger and malnutrition, we are forced to choose between supporting the malnourished and supporting the hungry, as a result of which millions of families are forced to look for food on their own. With the few resources that we have left, we are not able to help all people who are on the verge of complete poverty," explained the representative of the WFP.
Due to the sharp increase in needs around the world, WFP called on donor Governments to give priority to financing humanitarian operations.
The statement also states that since the radical Taliban movement seized power in Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban have issued a number of orders that constitute "gender discrimination" and systematic infringement of the rights of women and girls.
