UN food agency cuts rations to 2m Afghans as funds dry up

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) had to cut rations to another 2 million Afghans this month and is warning of a “catastrophic” winter if funding runs out with little food for remote communities in place, the agency’s country director has said.

The cut in rations comes amidst growing alarm over shrinking aid for Afghanistan, where a UN humanitarian response plan is only about a quarter funded, even after the budget was downgraded in the face of funding shortfalls. WFP funding for food and cash assistance is expected to run out by the end of October and the agency has had to cut assistance to 10 million Afghans steadily through the year.

The positioning of food to areas that will be cut off in winter has also been limited. The WFP said that if no funding comes through, 90 per cent of remote areas in need will be cut off without food. Even in accessible locations, people will get no supplies during the harsh weather. “That is the catastrophe that we have to avert,” WFP Afghanistan Country Director Hsiao-Wei Lee told Reuters.

🔴WFP in Afghanistan was forced to drop 10 million people from life-saving assistance this year, deepening despair and worry for Afghans.

🆕Press release: pic.twitter.com/39cyopnuWR

— World Food Programme in Afghanistan (@WFP_Afghanistan) September 5, 2023

About three-quarters of Afghanistan’s people need humanitarian aid as their country emerges from decades of conflict under an internationally isolated Taliban administration that took over as US-backed foreign forces withdrew in 2021. Development assistance that for years formed the backbone of government finances has been cut and the administration is subject to sanctions. Central bank assets held abroad, notably in the US, have been frozen.

Restrictions by the Taliban on women, including stopping most female Afghan humanitarian staff from working, are an obstacle to formal recognition and have also put off donors, many of whom have turned their attention to other humanitarian crises. 

“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 of donors. “The cost of inaction is ultimately borne and paid for by the most vulnerable and poor mothers and children.”

Almost 20 per cent of the people helped by the WFP are women heading households who, Lee said, are getting more desperate as the restrictions on women and the economic crisis mean they have fewer ways of earning.

“WFP is often the last lifeline for those who don’t have other options,” explained the WFP official. “It’s extremely difficult, not only for myself, but also for our team to have to explain to mothers that we can’t help them.”

Three million people are now getting food aid but after October, they might be getting nothing. The WFP needs $1 billion in funding to provide food aid and carry out planned projects until March.

For Kabul resident Baba Karim, 45, the cash he has got from the WFP twice this year has been a vital supplement to the less than $2 a day he earns working odd jobs at a market with a push cart. “I’m so worried about what will happen next, now that the assistance has ended,” said the father of five. “I lie awake at night worrying about the future of my children.”

READ: World Food Programme set to run out of money for food assistance to Afghans in October