The World Food Programme (WFP) director in Afghanistan, Hsiao Wei Li, announced that the UN agency has had to reduce food aid rations for two million additional Afghans this month and warns of a catastrophic winter if funding runs out, with scarce food remaining for remote areas. The reduction in food supplies comes amid increasing warnings about the shrinking aid allocated to Afghanistan, where the UN's humanitarian response plan has only been funded by about 25 percent, even after the budget was cut in response to a funding shortfall.
WFP is expected to run out of funding for food and cash assistance by the end of October and has had to gradually cut assistance over the year for ten million Afghans. Food allocations are also limited for areas that will become isolated in winter. The agency mentioned that without additional funding, there will be no food in 90 percent of remote areas, and even those in more accessible regions will not receive supplies during the harsh winter. She told Reuters, "That is a disaster we need to avoid."
Around three-quarters of the Afghan population needs humanitarian assistance as the country emerges from decades of conflict and under the internationally isolated Taliban-led government, which took power with the withdrawal of US-backed foreign troops in 2021. Li stated regarding donors, "What I do in my communications with them is remind them that ultimately we need to focus on the most in-need people," adding, "The most vulnerable, poor mothers, and children are the ones paying the price for inaction."
