Millions More Afghans Are Being Cut Off From Food Aid

by Aysha Qamar

Food rations to an additional two million Afghans will be cut this month, the UN World Food Program (WFP) said in an announcement Tuesday.

The agency said it will only be able to provide food assistance to about one-fifth of the 15 million people who need it in Afghanistan.

The decision follows a “massive funding shortfall,” WFP’s Country Director and Representative in Afghanistan Hsiao-Wei Lee said, noting that the decision will worsen problems of hunger and malnutrition.

“We are obliged to choose between the hungry and the starving, leaving millions of families scrambling for their next meal,” Lee said.

According to the agency funding for food and cash assistance is expected to run out by the end of October. If more funding is not available, 90% of remote areas in need will be cut off without food and supplies during the harsh winter weathers, the agency warned.

Per Reuters, the UN humanitarian response plan for Afghanistan is only one-quarter funded; WFP had to steadily cut assistance through the year to 10 million Afghans.

The UN food agency had to reduce rations from 75% to 50% for communities experiencing emergency levels of hunger in March.

Over the next two months it was forced to cut off food assistance to eight million people, WFP said.

Lee told Reuters that restrictions the Taliban has placed on women, including stopping female Afghan humanitarian staff from working, are obstacles that have put off donors.

“What I do in my engagements with them is remind them that at the end of the day, we must focus on those who are most in need,” Lee said. ”The cost of inaction is ultimately borne and paid for by the most vulnerable and poor mothers and children.”

According to the UN agency, 20% of the people being helped are households headed by women.

“WFP is often the last lifeline for those who don’t have other options,”  Lee said, noting that three-quarters of Afghanistan’s people are in need of humanitarian aid.

According to the Associated Press, within the next six months WFP needs $1 billion to reach 21 million people with lifesaving food and nutrition assistance. This includes money to place food in communities that will become cut off during the harsh Afghan winter.

The United Nations reported that at least 38 of WFP’s 86 country operations have experienced cuts or are planning to scale down food assistance programs, including in Afghanistan, Syria, Palestine, Yemen and several countries in West Africa.