The United Nations said on Wednesday that 6 million people in Afghanistan face an emergency level of food insecurity amidst insufficient humanitarian aid due to lack of funding.
“The economic shocks we are witnessing these days are the main driver of humanitarian needs,” Deputy Special Representative, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Ramiz Alekperov told reporters at UN headquarters from Kabul.
He added that winter is approaching with a temperature that drops in specific areas of the country to minus 25 degrees.
And the UN official continued, “We need $768 million to support winter preparation activities, and $614 million is needed before the end of the year… We have been struggling for funding all year.”
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According to the United Nations, two-thirds of Afghanistan’s population, more than 28 million people, will need humanitarian aid next year.
Alekbarov explained that the rate of food insecurity remains one of the highest in Afghanistan, with about 6 million people facing emergency levels of food insecurity.
He continued, “This is the stage before going to the fifth stage, which is a stage of catastrophic famine. Therefore, six million people are close to the borders of this line.”
The return of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan, in mid-August 2021, followed by the interruption of international financial aid, plunged the country into economic, humanitarian and human rights crises.
The United States and other Western countries suspended financial aid to Afghanistan after the Taliban took control.
The administration of US President Joe Biden also froze the foreign reserves of the Central Bank of Afghanistan, estimated at $7 billion, as part of its sanctions against the Taliban.
