UN officials warn that deepening funding shortfalls leave 14 million Afghans in acute hunger while child malnutrition hits record levels across a third of the country’s provinces, despite reduced fighting.

Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis is worsening even as armed conflict has declined, with millions of people confronting hunger, malnutrition, poverty and repeated climate disasters, United Nations officials have warned. Improved security has not translated into relief for ordinary Afghans struggling to put food on the table or keep their children healthy.

Olga Cherevko, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Afghanistan, delivered a stark assessment at a briefing in New York. “Security cannot put food on the table, rebuild homes destroyed by floods, recover crops lost to drought or treat a child suffering from severe malnutrition,” she said.

Families Exhausted by Poverty and Climate Shocks

Drawing on recent visits to Bamyan, Herat, Paktika, Khost and Nuristan, Cherevko described communities worn down by the same hardships. Families spoke of exhaustion from poverty, hunger, climate shocks, mounting debt and the daily effort of providing for their children. Recent floods in Nuristan left many without homes or income. Afghanistan ranks among the countries most vulnerable to climate change, with repeated floods, droughts, harsh winters and earthquakes preventing recovery.

Cross-border violence has added to the toll. Between October 2025 and the end of June 2026, more than 1,700 civilians were killed or injured – nearly 500 deaths and over 1,200 injuries, many of them women and children, according to figures from the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).

Taliban restrictions on women and girls continue to limit access to education, employment, healthcare and public life. These policies affect not only individual women but entire families and communities, further constraining household resilience.

Record Child Malnutrition Across 12 Provinces

The food crisis has become especially acute for children. The World Food Programme (WFP) reports that one in three Afghans – about 14 million people – face acute food insecurity. Yet the agency has funding to assist only one in nine of those in need.

Twelve provinces have reached critical levels of acute child malnutrition, the highest number ever recorded in Afghanistan. Nearly 3.7 million children under five and 1.2 million pregnant and breastfeeding women are projected to suffer acute malnutrition this year. Eighty per cent of the worst cases involve children under two, and many arrive at health centres too late to be saved.

“The number of children being rushed to health centres is soaring,” said John Aylieff, WFP’s country director for Afghanistan. “Eighty per cent of the worst cases are children under two years of age, and too many of them are arriving too late to be saved.”

Funding shortfalls have forced the closure of 142 health centres in 2025, cutting nutrition treatment for more than 13,000 children. Distribution of specialised nutritious foods to prevent malnutrition and stunting halted completely in May 2025. From August through October – the peak season for malnutrition – WFP has been forced to suspend food distributions aimed at preventing famine in the worst-hit areas.

Returns, Prices and Economic Strain Compound the Crisis

Nearly six million Afghans have returned from Pakistan and Iran since September 2023, placing additional pressure on an already fragile economy with few jobs. Regional conflicts and trade disruptions have driven staple food prices 20 to 30 per cent higher, making basic food increasingly unaffordable for poor families.

WFP’s emergency food and nutrition operations for 2026 are costed at about $900 million. The agency urgently needs $540 million before winter to sustain assistance and avert further deterioration. Without new support, the crisis is expected to worsen as the lean season and colder months arrive.

The broader 2026 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan requires roughly $1.71 billion to reach 17.5 million people. As of early August, only about 26 per cent of that funding had been secured.

Aid Alone Cannot Rebuild Lives

Humanitarian organisations continue to deliver emergency assistance, yet Cherevko stressed that aid cannot resolve Afghanistan’s long-term challenges. She called on the international community to support not only emergency relief but also livelihoods, education, healthcare and reconstruction so that Afghans can rebuild their lives.

The combination of funding cuts, mass returns, climate shocks, high food prices and restrictions on half the population has left millions of Afghans – especially young children – facing preventable hunger and illness. Without urgent additional resources, the coming winter risks turning an already severe crisis into a deeper humanitarian emergency, Cherevko has warned.