UN warns of acute food crisis in Afghanistan

Millions of Afghans will face starvation this winter unless urgent action is taken, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) has warned. More than half the population - about 22.8 million people - face acute food insecurity, while 3.2 million children under five could suffer acute malnutrition, the WFP said. Afghanistan is now among the world's worst humanitarian crises, said David Beasley, the executive director of the WFP. A nation is considered aid-dependent when 10% or more of its gross domestic product comes from foreign aid; in Afghanistan's case, about 40% of GDP was international aid, according to the World Bank.
Afghanistan fell to the Taliban in August after the US pulled out the last of its remaining troops and the militants swept across the country retaking ground. The takeover weakened an already fragile economy that was heavily dependent on foreign aid. Western powers suspended aid and the World Bank and International Monetary Fund also halted payments. The WFP warned that the looming winter threatened to further isolate Afghans dependent on humanitarian assistance to survive. And for the first time in Afghanistan, urban residents are suffering from food insecurity at similar rates to rural communities, the organisation said.

According to the WFP on Monday, the UN humanitarian assistance programme remains only a third funded. The organisation said it may require as much as $220m (£159.6m) per month to meet the task, calling the current financial commitments a "drop in the ocean". The food crisis in Afghanistan has been compounded by water shortages and a severe drought - the country's second in four years.