Afghanistan COI Repository

Afghan Red Crescent, Nangarhar (31 December 2022) [EN/Dari/PS], 31 December 2022

“ARCS has distributed 9 items of foodstuffs, to 500 vulnerable surveyed families, in nearby areas of Jalal Abad, the center of Nangarhar province. With receiving of aid, at the doorstep of cold winter, the beneficiaries were happy as a sandy boy. In afore-mentioned aid, each family received 50-kg flour, 24.5-kg rice, 10-liter oil, 7-kg beans, 7-kg pea, 1-kg green tea, 2-kg salt, 5-kg sugar & 7-kg chickpeas.”

 

CARE, The Impact of the Food Crisis on Women and Girls in Afghanistan, November 2022, 29 December 2022 “Enduring gender inequality, compounded with recent restrictions on right to education and to work, have further impacted women and girls in their ability to access sufficient and nutritious food. CARE conducted a study on how the food crisis in Afghanistan affects women and girls differently to better understand the gendered economic, cultural, and practical barriers to food security. This research highlights key findings on household food security, negative coping strategies women and families adopt, and shortcomings of humanitarian actors in gender- responsive aid delivery. The study is based on a comprehensive desk review of existing data since August 2021, a household survey comprising of 345 women respondents, completed in both urban and rural communities, a series of qualitative interviews with 18 women, 9 focus group discussions (FGDs) with men, and key informant interviews (KIIs) with food security specialists and humanitarian actors. The data was collected in urban and rural districts in 9 provinces in the north, west, south, and center of the country.

A few key stats from the report include:

 87.2% of survey respondents reported that since August 2021, they had experienced a considerable decrease in their household income.

 81% of women reported that they had had to skip a meal in the last two weeks and in 95% of households, women said that they and/or other household members had reduced food consumption overall.

 Out of the 345 women interviewed, 41, or 12%, indicated that severe levels of food insecurity had forced them to marry one of the girls of the family under the age of 18 in the past. 55% of the survey respondents indicated that child marriage was one of the main safety and security concerns facing girls in their community.

 Only 34% of women respondents suggested that they had received some form of support in the last year. Of those women who received support, less than 15% had been consulted on the type of assistance they needed prior to receiving it.

 Only 19% of the women surveyed reported that the humanitarian assistance they received had been adapted to meet their specific needs. In addition, the women interviewed for this study also indicated that the modalities of delivery have sometimes been inadequate. Examples shared included: the delivery of aid in mosques, which are often not accessible to women; the distribution of aid through male humanitarian workers, which can be culturally inappropriate”

 

WFP, WFP Afghanistan Country Brief, November 2022, 28 December 2022

“General Food Assistance

• In November, WFP surpassed 1 million mt of food distribution in 2022. WFP also disbursed more than US$260

million worth of cash-based transfers.

• WFP reached 12.4 million people with emergency food, nutrition, and livelihood support in November, including 16,940 internally displaced people, across all 34 provinces of Afghanistan.

• Cash-based transfers delivered via direct cash, vouchers, and mobile money, accounted for 28 percent of assistance provided in November.

  Asset creation and livelihoods

• WFP assisted more than 390,000 people through Food Assistance for Assets across 26 provinces to meet their

basic food needs while building their resilience against recurrent shocks and stressors.

• WFP assisted more than 27,000 people through Food Assistance for Training (FFT) activities, including more than

13,000 women. FFT activities are operational in 16 provinces.

Nutrition Support

• WFP assisted more than 708,000 children aged 6-59 months and pregnant and lactating women with nutritious foods for the prevention of acute malnutrition, while providing malnutrition treatment to 625,000 women and children.

• WFP currently supports more than 1,770 health centers and 427 mobile health and nutrition teams to ensure continued and equitable access in hard-toreach areas.

School feeding

• WFP distributed 758 mt of Bread+ and 520 mt of high energy biscuits to more than 558,000 primary students and

523 mt of fortified vegetable oil to 84,000 primary schoolgirls.

• Around 3,600 secondary-level girls received cash incentives in Balkh, Jawzjan, Sar-e-Pol, and Zabul provinces where they are permitted to attend school.

• School Feeding activities have resumed in all areas after successful negotiations with de facto authorities.”

WFP, WFP Afghanistan: Situation Report, 22 December 2022

“In Numbers

 

Nearly 20 million people are projected to be acutely food-insecure between November 2022 and March 2023, including more than 6 million people in IPC Phase 4 (Emergency), according to preliminary estimates

4 million people are acutely malnourished, including 3.2 million children under the age of five

28.3 million people – two-thirds of Afghanistan’s population – require multi-sectoral humanitarian assistance in 2023

Highlights

 More than 22.6 million people in Afghanistan received WFP’s emergency food, nutrition, and livelihood support thus far in 2022. In December, WFP has so far assisted more than 3.5 million people, with ongoing distributions.

 WFP Afghanistan bids farewell to its Representative and Country Director, Mary-Ellen McGroarty. The Country Office thanks Mel for her tremendous leadership over the past two years and wishes her all the best on her next assignment.

 In 2023, WFP requires US$2.2 billion to deliver emergency food, nutrition, and livelihood support to people in need. WFP has the operational capacity to scale up its operations if additional resources become available.

Situation Update

 

 Nearly 20 million people in Afghanistan are acutely food-insecure (IPC 3+), including more than 6 million people on the brink of famine-like conditions in IPC Phase 4 (Emergency), according to preliminary projections for November 2022 to March 2023.

 Afghanistan continues to face the highest prevalence of insufficient food consumption globally. Results from WFP’s October Food Security Update show that nine in ten households consumed insufficient food, with little change over the past 12 months. On average, 90 percent of household income is spent on food, while 50 percent of households rely on coping strategies to meet their basic food needs.

 Female-headed households are disproportionately affected, as 84 percent are unable to consume sufficient food amid restrictions. Women are twice as likely to sacrifice their meals so that their families can eat, compared to male-headed households.

 Household debt has increased six-fold since 2019, and by 44 percent among urban households since 2021, as households struggle to meet their basic needs amidst the economic crisis.

 The current food crisis is perpetuated by a concurrent climate crisis, as 30 out of 34 provinces in Afghanistan report extremely low water quality. The proportion of households feeling the impact of drought in 2022 is six times greater than in 2020 as Afghanistan enters its third consecutive drought year.”

 

Mercy Corps, Authorities cut off economic lifelines by banning education for women in Afghanistan as families struggle to put a single meal on the table, 22 December 2022

“Yesterday’s announcement excluding women from universities across Afghanistan will further hinder efforts to rebuild a country on the brink of economic collapse, against a stark reality where two thirds of the population will need humanitarian assistance in 2023. Denying women and girls an education, and excluding them from the workforce, will only increase the economic strain felt by millions of households struggling to afford even the most basic food items. Jack Byrne, Mercy Corps Country Director for Afghanistan, says: “It is not only distressing, but counterintuitive, to restrict women and girls – almost half the population – from pursuing an education when the country is in economic free fall and facing one of the world’s most severe hunger crises. We’ve seen through years of providing vocational training how essential formal and non-formal education opportunities are to uplift women and girls’ economic opportunities and we are deeply disturbed by this news.” "Conflict, displacement and natural disasters have prompted Afghanistan's humanitarian situation to deteriorate rapidly throughout 2022. With more than 6 million people already on the brink of famine-like conditions and the world’s highest prevalence of insufficient food consumption, we are expecting two thirds of the population to be in need of humanitarian assistance in the new year. That’s some 28.3 million people.” “Household incomes have decreased exponentially and we’ve seen a six-fold increase in reliance on humanitarian aid as a primary source of income. This is made worse by the fact that many women who previously contributed to household income are no longer able to work. At least half the population, and counting, are living on less than $1.90 USD per day. Putting even a single meal on the table has become a daily struggle” “This year less than 60% of the required humanitarian funds were raised by the international community. An even greater amount (US$4.62 billion) is needed to support vulnerable crisis-affected people in 2023. More funding is urgently needed, and without it, lives are on the line this winter.””

Afghan Red Crescent, Paktika (22 December 2022) [EN/Dari/PS], 22 December 2022

“At the beginning of cold winter, on 21st December, ARCS has distributed food and non-foodstuffs to 400 vulnerable and deserving families in Dela district of Paktika province. In afore-mentioned aid, each family received 24.5-kg rice, 11-liter oil, 3-kg sugar, 1-kg black tea, 3.5-kg conserved beans, 3-kg macaroni, 1.5-kg salt, 1-kg olive, 1-kg sohan halwa, 1-kg dates, 2-kg green tea, 2-kg lentils, a pair of male shoes and a thermos for 50 families.”

 

Afghan Red Crescent, Badghis (22 December 2022) [EN/Dari/PS], 22 December 2022

“Helping the vulnerable people is considered as one of the main objectives of ARCS, hence on 21st December, ARCS has distributed foodstuffs, to 800 vulnerable and disabled families, in Bala Murghab district of Badghis province. In afore-mentioned aid, each family received 100-kg flour, 24.5-kg rice, 10-liter oil, 8-kg beans, 1-kg green tea, 2-kg salt, 5-kg sugar & a packet of (BP-5) biscuit.”

 

WFP, Afghanistan: Countrywide Weekly Market Price Bulletin, Issue 132: Week 3 December 2022, 21 December 2022

“The price of wheat grain, wheat flour, cooking oil, and Sugar decreased compared to the previous week. However, these prices remain significantly higher than the two-year average, except cooking oil. Rice (High) rose by 0.3 percent compared to last week”

 

UNOCHA, Six things you need to know about Afghanistan right now, 20 December 2022

“Afghanistan is on a cliff edge. A record 28.3 million people -- some two thirds of the population -- will require humanitarian and protection assistance in 2023. That's up from 24.4 million people in 2022 and 18.4 million in early 2021. Some 20 million people face acute hunger by the end of March 2023, and malnutrition rates remain extremely high, with 4 million children and women facing acute malnutrition.”

 

Afghan Red Crescent, Farah (17 December 2022), 17 December 2022

“In continuation of humanitarian aid, at the beginning of cold winter, ARCS has distributed 8 items of foodstuffs to 800 vulnerable families in Qala-e-Kah district of Farah province. In afore-mentioned aid, each family received 100- kg flour, 24.5-kg rice, 10-liter oil, 8-kg beans, 1-kg green tea,2-kg salt, 5-kg sugar & a packet of (BP-5) biscuit. It's commendable that in addition to foodstuffs, the dissemination management of ARCS has also distributed broadcasting and advertising leaflets to the public.”

 

Afghan Red Crescent, Helmand (17 December 2022), 17 December 2022

“In cold winter, ARCS has distributed food packages to 450 vulnerable families in Nawzad-Hilmand province. In afore- mentioned aid, each family received 100-kg flour, 24.5-kg rice, 10-liter oil, 8-kg beans, 1-kg green tea,2-kg salt, 5-kg sugar & a packet of (BP-5) biscuit.”

 

Afghan Red Crescent, Kandahar (17 December 2022), 17 December 2022

“To reduce human sufferings, at the beginning of cold winter, on 15th December, ARCS has distributed foodstuffs to 300 vulnerable and headless families in Kandahar province. In afore-mentioned aid, each family received 100-kg flour,24.5-kg rice, 10-liter oil,7-kg beans,1-kg green tea,2-kg salt,5-kg sugar & a packet of (BP-5) biscuit. It's worth mentioning that earlier, ARCS has distributed aid to thousands of vulnerable families in the very province.”

 

Afghan Red Crescent, Kandahar (13 December 2022), 17 December 2022

“To reduce human sufferings, at the beginning of cold winter, on 13th December, ARCS has distributed foodstuffs to 200 vulnerable and headless families in Kandahar province. In afore-mentioned aid, each family received 100-kg flour, 24.5-kg rice, 10-liter oil, 7-kg beans, 1-kg green tea, 2-kg salt, 5-kg sugar & a packet of (BP-5) biscuit. It's planned that ARCS will distribute foodstuffs to the remaining 300 families tomorrow. It's commendable that earlier, ARCS has also distributed foodstuffs to 500 flood-hit families in Takhta Pul district of the very province.”

UNICEF, UNICEF Afghanistan Humanitarian Situation Report No.12 for 30 November 2022, 16 December 2022

“The UNICEF supported mobile health and nutrition teams were able to reach over 180,000 people in remote areas

in November including over 75,000 under-five children.”

 

WFP, Afghanistan: Countrywide Weekly Market Price Bulletin, Issue 131: Week 2 December 2022, 15 December 2022

“The price of wheat grain, wheat flour, cooking oil, and Sugar decreased compared to the previous week. However, these prices remain significantly higher than the two-year average, except cooking oil. Both rice (High and Low) rose by one percent compared to last week”

 

WFP, WFP Afghanistan: Situation Report - 05 December 2022, 13 December 2022

“Nearly 20 million people are projected to be acutely food-insecure between November 2022 and March 2023, including more than 6 million people in IPC Phase 4 (Emergency), according to preliminary estimates 4 million people are acutely malnourished, including 3.2 million children under the age of five 28.3 million people – two-thirds of Afghanistan’s population – require multi-sectoral humanitarian assistance in 2023”

 

Afghan Red Crescent, Kandahar (12 December 2022), 12 December 2022

“At the beginning of cold winter, in continuation of humanitarian aid, on 11th December, ARCS has distributed foodstuffs provided by Turkish country and International Federation to 500 flood-hit and vulnerable families in nearby Tahkta Pul district of Kandahar province. In afore-mentioned aid, each family received 100-kg flour, 24.5-kg rice, 10-liter oil, 7-kg beans, 1-kg green tea, 2-kg salt, 5-kg sugar & a packet of (BP-5) biscuit. Which has brought smile on their faces.”

 

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), FAO receives additional funding from the Government of Japan to boost food security for vulnerable Afghan households, 12 December 2022

“The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has today received additional funding of USD

1.9 million from the Government of Japan to improve access and availability of nutritious food for vulnerable and food-insecure smallholder households in Afghanistan as well as protecting their livestock. The resources will fund a 12-month emergency project beginning January 2023. It will support 42 700 people from Kapisa province (Hissa-e- Awali Kohistan and Nijrab districts) and Panjshir province (Rukha and Darah districts) who are food insecure and depend on livestock and poultry as source of food and income.”

 

Afghan Red Crescent, Helmand (10 December 2022), 10 December 2022

“Helping vulnerable people is considered as one of the main objectives of ARCS, therefore on 9th December, ARCS has distributed foodstuffs to 226 flood-hit families, who were surveyed by ARCS, in 6th & 7th districts of Helmand city. In afore-mentioned aid, each family received 50-kg flour, 24.5-kg rice, 10-liter oil, 7-kg beans, 1-kg green tea, 2- kg salt & 5-kg sugar.”

 

Afghan Red Crescent, Uruzgan (10 December 2022), 10 December 2022

“At the beginning of the severe cold winter, on 9th December, in continuation of humanitarian aid, ARCS distributed foodstuffs to 40 vulnerable families in Tarinkot, the center of Uruzgan province. In the afore-mentioned aid, each family received 100 kg flour, 24.5-kg rice, 10-liter oil, 8 kg beans, 1 kg green tea, 2 kg salt, 5 kg sugar & a packet of (BP-5) biscuit. It's commendable that yesterday, ARCS has also distributed foodstuffs to 450 vulnerable and needy families in the center of the very province.”

 

WFP, Afghanistan Food Security Update - September to October 2022, 9 December 2022

“Since September 2022, some nine in ten households have faced insufficient food consumption each month. This is more than The impending winter could cause food security to deteriorate even further, with weather conditions already disrupting some critical roads. Household incomes have continued to shrink. For the fifth month in a row, over half of households have watched their incomes decrease. These losses are widespread, with households of

varying education levels and urban/rural settings all equally affected. This is forcing people to spend nearly all their income on food. For the past five months, households have been spending over 90 percent of their income on food. These levels are concerning all across the country, with expenditure highest in the North (93 percent) and lowest in the West (88 percent). This comes as the pressures of dwindling incomes and inflated prices push food further out of reach; wheat prices have jumped by over 20 percent compared to the previous year. The harvest may have played a protective factor for some households. In the last three months, 23 to 24 percent of households working in the production or sale of field crops have had acceptable food consumption. This is around double the national average (10 percent). The improvement here coincides with the end of the wheat and barley harvest season, even if harvests this year were lower than average. The lower precipitation projected for the upcoming wet season (due to effects of La Niña) may leave these households at risk. Economic and food concerns remain the biggest worries. Job losses are the top concern for half of the population (47 percent), followed by food shortages (28 percent) and increases in food prices (6 percent). These have been the top three concerns five months in a row. Half of the population is turning to coping strategies to put food on the table. The proportion of households using crisis coping strategies has fluctuated at around 50 percent for the past four months. This is over four times worse than pre-15 August 2021. The most common strategies are buying less expensive/preferred food (89 percent) and borrowing to buy food (73 percent). A quarter of households are struggling with access to markets (25 percent). In the past six months, this figure has fluctuated between 24 and 31 percent of households facing market access challenges. There was a particularly steep deterioration in the West (Badghis, Farah and Ghor provinces), from 20 percent in September to 35 percent in October. Female-headed households are also faring worse, with 37 percent facing challenges accessing markets compared with 25 percent of male-headed households. Female-headed households are disproportionately turning to coping strategies. Over eight in ten female-headed households (84 percent) are using crisis coping strategies, compared with half of male-headed households (50 percent). This marks a deterioration in the last month of 9 percentage points. When it comes to sacrificing food for the family, eight in ten female-headed households are reducing the number of meals, compared to four in ten male-headed households. Households with person/s with disabilities are also disproportionately impacted; 64 percent are turning to coping strategies to put food on the table (compared to 53 percent for other households). In particular, these households have increasingly resorted to strategies such as reducing meal sizes (80 percent), and restricting the consumption of adults (74 percent).”

 

Afghan Red Crescent, Khost: Reaching out to the earthquake-hit people is still continued by ARCS! [EN/Dari/PS], 9 December 2022

“As humanitarian needs increase in the severe cold winter, hence on 8th December, ARCS has distributed foodstuffs to 524 earthquake-hit families, who were surveyed by ARCS, in Spira district - Khost province In afore-mentioned aid, each family received 50-kg flour, 24.5-kg rice, 10-liter oil, 7-kg beans, 1-kg green tea, 2-kg salt & 5-kg sugar.”

 

Afghan Red Crescent, Zabul & Uruzgan (9 December 2022) [EN/Dari/PS], 9 December 2022

“At the beginning of the upcoming cold winter, on 8th Dec, ARCS distributed foodstuffs to 400 vulnerable and flood- hit families in Shajoy district of Zabul province and to 450 vulnerable, orphans and needy families in center Tarinkot, Uruzgan province. In afore-mentioned aid, each family received 100-kg flour, 24.5-kg rice, 10-liter oil, 8-kg beans, 1- kg green tea, 2 packets salt, 5-kg sugar & a packet of (BP-5) biscuit.”

 

WFP, Afghanistan: Countrywide Weekly Market Price Bulletin, Issue 130: Week 1 December 2022, 7 December 2022 “The price of wheat flour, wheat grain, and cooking oil remained stable. However, these prices remain significantly higher than the two-year average. Both Rice (High and Low) rose by one percent compared to last week • The purchasing power of unskilled casual labour and livestock growers remained stable. However, the Terms of Trade for one-year female sheep to wheat remain significantly below their values for the same time last year and the two- year average and unskilled casual labour to wheat remain significantly below their values for the two-year average.”

 

Afghan Red Crescent, Kapisa (6 December 2022), 6 December 2022

“On 6th December, ARCS has distributed 7 items of foodstuffs to 226 flood-hit families in Tagab district of Kapisa province. In afore-mentioned aid, each family received 50-kg flour, 24.5-kg rice, 10-liter oil, 7-kg beans, 5-kg sugar, 1-kg green tea and 2-kg salt.”

 

Afghan Red Crescent, Ningarhar (6 December 2022), 6 December 2022

“Reaching out the vulnerable people is considered as one the fundamental objectives of ARCS, hence on 6th Dec, ARCS has distributed 7 items of foodstuffs to 226 flood-hit families in Goshta district of Ningarhar province. In afore- mentioned aid, each family received 50-kg flour, 24.5-kg rice, 10-liter oil, 7-kg beans, 5-kg sugar, 1-kg green tea and 2-kg salt.”

 

Afghan Red Crescent, Paktika (6 December 2022), 6 December 2022

“ARCS has still kept continue helping the earthquake-hit affected people of Paktika province. For this purpose, on 5th Dec, ARCS has distributed foodstuffs provided by Turkish Red Crescent to 500 earthquake-hit families in different villages of Gayan district of Paktika province. In afore-mentioned aid each family received 10-kg rice, 5-kg beans, 5- liter oil, 2-kg macaroni, 2-kg sugar, 1-kg green tea, 800-gr tomato paste and 3 packets biscuit. The people of the area expressed their happiness regarding distribution of aid. It's commendable that yesterday, ARCS has also distributed foodstuffs to 500 earthquake-hit families in Barmal district of the very province.”

 

Afghan Red Crescent, Distribution Of Foodstuffs By ARCS To 400 Vulnerable And Flood-Hit Families In Naw Bahar District Of Zabul Province, 6 December 2022

“On 4th December, ARCS has distributed foodstuffs to 400 vulnerable and flood-hit families in Naw Bahar district of Zabul province. where each family received 100-kg flour, 24.5-kg rice, 10-liter oil, 8-kg beans, 1-kg green tea, 2 packets salt, 5-kg sugar and a packet of (BP-5) biscuit.”

 

Afghan Red Crescent, Khost (4 December 2022), 4 December 2022

“On 3rd December, ARCS has initiated a survey of 526 earthquake-hit families in Spera district of Khost province. The survey is conducted by Cobocollect advanced system, where after completion of survey the earthquake-hit families will receive foodstuffs.”

 

Afghan Red Crescent, Zabul (4 December 2022), 4 December 2022

“On 2nd December, ARCS distributed 8 items of foodstuffs to 400 vulnerable and flood-hit families in Shinkay district of Zabul province. The afore-mentioned aid included- a total of 40 tons flour, 2.5 tons rice, 4000 liter oil, 3.2 tons beans, 400 kg green tea, 800 kg salt, 2 tons sugar and biscuits, where each family received 100 kg flour, 24.5 kg rice, 10-liter oil, 8 kg beans, 1 kg green tea, 2 kg salt, 5 kg sugar and a packet of biscuit.”

 

FEWS NET, Central Asia Price Bulletin, November 2022, 1 December 2022

“In Kazakhstan, Saryagash Station serves as a key source market for wheat exports to Afghanistan and other neighboring countries. In Afghanistan, Kabul supplies the central provinces and is a transit point between the north, south, east, and west. […] In Pakistan, Lahore is a key market for trade within the region, particularly with Afghanistan.”

 

FEWS NET, Afghanistan Price Bulletin, November 2022, 1 December 2022

“Wheat is the staple food for most Afghans, comprising more than 70 percent of their diet. Low-quality rice is a poor but sometimes-necessary substitute. All markets represent significant population centers and consumer markets. Kabul, the capital, supplies the central provinces and is a transit point between the north, south, east, and west. Jalalabad supplies the eastern part of the country. Mazar-e-Sharif supplies northern provinces and, in a good year, the southern provinces as well. Kunduz supplies the northeastern provinces while Faizabad supplies the chronically food insecure Badakhshan Province. Hirat supplies the west. Kandahar supplies the country’s southwestern provinces.”

WFP, Afghanistan: Countrywide Weekly Market Price Bulletin, Issue 129: Week 4, November 2022, 30 November 2022

“The price of wheat flour, wheat grain, and cooking oil re-mained stable. However, these prices remain significantly higher than last year and the two-year average. Rice (Low) rose by four percent, while rice (High) remained stable.

• The purchasing power of unskilled casual labour and live-stock sales remained stable. However, the Terms of Trade for one-year female sheep to wheat flour and unskilled cas-ual labour to wheat flour remain significantly below their values for the same time last year and the two-year aver-age.”

 

ICRC, Humanitarian needs to deepen in dozens of conflict zones as world’s attention wanes, 29 November 2022 “The economic situation in Afghanistan is worsening. At 33 ICRC-supported hospitals across the country, child malnutrition cases are already 90% higher in 2022 compared to all of 2021, rising from 33,000 cases to over 63,000 so far this year. Meanwhile, at an ICRC-supported children’s hospital in Kabul, the number of children under 5 being treated for pneumonia has risen 55% in 2022 versus the same period last year.”

 

IOM, MOVEMENTS IN AND OUT OF AFGHANISTAN 1 November to 15 November 2022, 24 November 2022

“MAIN FINDINGS (As of 30 April 2022) […]

71% of people in urban settlements cannot afford basic food needs, compared with 68% of rural and 68% of peri- urban settlements

42% of households rely on less preferred or less expensive foods as a coping mechanism 23% of people are unable to access basic food needs

16% of households eat one meal or less per day 10% of households rely on food aid for bread

1% of households resort to extreme measures such as selling organs, selling children, or child marriage to afford

food.”

 

International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Afghanistan: Child pneumonia, malnutrition spikes as families face impossible choice: eat or heat, 24 November 2022

“Despite a significant decrease in the intensity of the fighting, the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan remains alarming. More than half the population (24 million people) need humanitarian assistance and half (20 million people) are acutely food insecure. The deepening economic crisis further impacted by international sanctions and the economic consequences of the Russia-Ukraine international armed conflict makes it impossible for millions of Afghans to make ends meet. Wheat, cooking oil and fertilizer prices have risen. People lost income sources and used up their financial reserves. The agricultural sector has also been impacted by earthquakes, droughts and floods.”

 

Human Rights Watch, “No One Asked Me Why I Left Afghanistan”, 18 November 2022

The economic crisis is also driving flight or contributing to Afghans’ decision to leave. An Afghan humanitarian official told Human Rights Watch in mid-July about widespread malnutrition. “People have nothing to eat. You may not imagine it, but children are starving…. The situation is dire, especially if you go to the villages.” He said he knew of one family who had lost two children, ages 5 and 2, to starvation in the last two months: “This is unbelievable in 2022. Many Afghans survive by farming and husbandry. Both the effects of climate change and actions by the Taliban have tipped the scale of survival to dangerous levels. Crop failures are causing displacement, as food in some places can no longer be harvested for consumption or sale. One interviewee told Human Rights Watch he left Afghanistan because “the Taliban took our fields.” Another said he left because “there was not enough water to irrigate our fields and we could not earn any money from our crops. Almost 20 million people – half the population – are suffering either level-3 “crisis” or level-4 “emergency” levels of food insecurity under the assessment system of the World Food Program (WFP). Over one million children under 5 – especially at risk of dying when deprived of food – are suffering from prolonged acute malnutrition, according to Save the Children. In July 2022, the WFP reported that tens of thousands of people in one province, Ghor, had slipped into “catastrophic” level-5 acute food insecurity, a precursor to famine. Overall, more than 90 percent of Afghans have been suffering from some form of food insecurity since August 2021, skipping meals or whole days of eating and engaging in extreme coping mechanisms

to pay for food, including sending children to work and even, in some reports, the selling of children. Afghanistan’s economic collapse was caused in part by a collapse in most families’ incomes following the Taliban takeover and foreign donors’ decisions to suspend outside budgetary support for numerous government, humanitarian, and development sectors, including education and health.”

 

World Food Program, WFP at a glance, 14 November 2022

“Afghanistan is becoming the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, with 18.9 million people – nearly half the population – now facing acute food insecurity, including 6 million teetering on the edge of famine. An already desperate situation has been compounded by drought, escalating displacement, the collapse of public services and deepening economic crisis. An earthquake in late June will only add to the already massive needs. WFP requires US$960 million through December 2022 to ensure the delivery of humanitarian assistance to a planned 18 million people this winter – including urgent needs for food prepositioning before winter.”

 

World Food Program, WFP receives €50 million from the European Union for its livelihood and resilience work, 8 November 2022

“Having struggled through a year of unprecedented economic hardship and environmental disasters like earthquakes and flooding, the people of Afghanistan are less prepared than ever to weather another harsh winter. A staggering 9 in 10 households cannot meet their food needs, with those headed by women particularly vulnerable, according to the latest WFP assessment.

“This is a time of urgent need for Afghanistan. The people are reeling from the effects of four decades of conflict, climate hazards, COVID-19 and the socioeconomic crisis that have deprived people of their jobs and livelihoods across the country in the past year,” said Raffaella Iodice, EU Chargée d’affaires to Afghanistan. “People who previously were able to put food on the table are now struggling and turning to humanitarian agencies to help steady them in this new reality. We are committed to helping the Afghan population, especially the most vulnerable. Our investment in WFP’s resilience programming is an investment that will have long-lasting, positive effects for local communities.””

 

Assessment Capacities Project (ACAPS), Afghanistan: Risk Overview, 07 November 2022

“Afghanistan’s economic situation has been deteriorating since August 2021. In July 2022, the inflation rate for basic household goods (food and fuel) stood at 43.4% as a result of drought and the increase in global energy and food prices (WB 25/08/2022). […] In August 2021, more than four of five households experienced a significant decrease in or elimination of their income following the change in government and cessation of all donor-supported development activities (REACH et al. 28/02/2022). Some humanitarian activities currently remain suspended. […] Since August 2021, the purchasing power of most Afghan households has decreased significantly, and the use of negative coping mechanisms has increased (WFP 27/07/2022). A further significant decrease in purchasing power would severely reduce access to food, healthcare, and other essential services.”

 

World Food Program, Additional contribution from the British Government allows WFP to support 650,000 Afghans to get through winter, 4 November 2022

“With the latest contribution, WFP Afghanistan has by now received GBP184 million from FCDO since November

2021. It will enable WFP to provide food and nutrition support to 400,000 severely food insecure people through in- kind food distributions and 250,000 people with monthly cash transfers that go directly to families to help them cover their food needs in areas where markets are functional. In total, WFP will distribute 16,000 mt of nutritionally balanced food commodities and US$ 9.3 million in cash thanks to the funding.”

 

International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Afghanistan: “My children are collecting waste to feed themselves”, 01 November 2022

“As many as 20 million people in Afghanistan lack access to nutritious food and more than 24 million are in dire need

of humanitarian assistance. The worsening crisis is driving millions of people into extreme poverty, with many being

forced to eat scraps or pick waste to avoid starvation. Widows and orphaned children are among the worst affected

and too often unable to eat even one proper meal a day.”

 

Save the Children, CHILD MALNUTRITION CASES RISE NEARLY 50% IN AFGHANISTAN AS HUNGER HITS RECORD LEVELS, 31 October 2022

“The number of dangerously malnourished children admitted to Save the Children’s mobile health clinics in Afghanistan has increased by 47% since January this year, with some babies dying before managing to receive any treatment..”

“Demand for malnutrition treatment services has surged in recent months as families struggle to cope with Afghanistan’s worst hunger crisis on record. In January, Save the Children’s 57 mobile health teams admitted about 2,500 malnourished children for treatment. By September, that number had jumped to around 4,270 children admitted by 66 teams, according to newly released data”

 

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), Afghanistan: Earthquake Response Situation Report No. 4, 31 October 2022

“The Integrated Phase Classification (IPC) classified the earthquake affected provinces as phase 3 (crisis) & 4

(emergency) where around half of the population are estimated to be food insecure. Around 112,000 people have been assisted with emergency food assistance

[…]

“Needs: • The IPC has classified Khost province as phase 3 & 4 (crisis & emergency) with 35 per cent of the population estimated to be food insecure. The pre-lean season assessment (PLSA) shows that 46.4 per cent of people have poor food consumption. Around 14 percent of households are resorting to high coping strategies. • Paktika province has also been classified as phase 3 & 4 in the IPC with 50 per cent of the population estimated to be food insecure. According to PLSA, 53 per cent of people have a poor food consumption score and just over one-third of households are resorting to high coping strategies. • Early action and timely provision of humanitarian food and livelihood support is needed to reduce the impact of the harsh winter and prevent people from slipping into even more severe food insecurity.”

 

UNICEF, Afghanistan Humanitarian Situation Report No. 11, 31 October 2022

“In addition, 64 per cent of households reported that they experienced drought in the six months prior to data collection and 54 per cent experienced economic shock. The impact of both drought and economic shock is having a devastating effect on food security and family coping mechanisms. Results from a special edition WFP Food Security Update1 found that on average, 92 percent of household income is spent on food, while 51 percent of households rely on coping strategies to meet their basic food needs. Nine in ten households continue to face insufficient food consumption. WFP survey, on average, 92 per cent of household income is spent on food, while 51 per cent of households rely on coping strategies to meet their basic food needs. Households headed by women remain especially vulnerable, as 96 per cent face insufficient food consumption amid restrictions on women and girls. Currently, an estimated 18.9 million people in Afghanistan are acutely food-insecure, with 6 million in IPC Phase 4 (Emergency), and 13 million in IPC Phase 3 (Crisis). The food security situation will likely worsen in the upcoming lean season (November-March), with the number of people projected to be in IPC 3+ expected to increase.”

 

IOM, Afghanistan — RLS - Snapshot Report Round 8 (October 2022), 31 October 2022

“Participants were asked about coping mechanisms in response to food insecurity. Reducing food quantity and quality and borrowing food were the coping mechanisms used most frequently by the respondents. Thirty per cent of the respondents reported borrowing food very often and 47 per cent often. Furthermore, a large majority of participants reduced the quantity and quality of their food often or very often (94% and 89%, respectively). One- fourth of all participants reported skipping meals often or very often to cope with food insecurity (25%).”

World Food Programme, WFP   Afghanistan   Situation   Report, 19 October 2022 “An estimated 18.9 million people in Afghanistan are acutely food-insecure (IPC 3+), according to the May 2022 IPC Analysis, including 6 million in IPC Phase 4 (Emergency), and 13 million in IPC Phase 3 (Crisis). Continued humanitarian assistance in the most remote and vulnerable provinces including Ghor is needed to prevent further deterioration to IPC Phase 5 (Catastrophe) conditions, which affected some 20,000 people in Ghor between March and May 2022. Afghanistan continues to face the highest prevalence of insufficient food consumption globally, as some nine in ten households struggle to meet their food needs, according to WFP’s latest Food Security Update: Round Eleven (July 2022). Household food expenditure share continued to increase, reaching 91 percent in July (up from 80 percent in January) while some six in ten households saw their incomes drop. Nearly half of the population continues to employ crisis coping strategies to meet their basic needs. Households hosting persons with disabilities remain disproportionately impacted, with 58 percent relying on crisis coping strategies. Households headed by women remain especially vulnerable, as 96 percent are facing insufficient food consumption amid restrictions on women and girls. They are twice as likely as men to sacrifice their own meals so that their families can eat.”

 

EUAA, Mobility Trends Report: Afghan Nationals in Pakistan, Iran, Turkey and Central Asia, 28 September 2022 "According to data from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), 47 % of the population were facing high levels of acute food insecurity in the second quarter of 2022, including 20 000 people in the remote Ghor province who were classified as in Catastrophe conditions. Catastrophe conditions are the most severe of the IPC’s five phase classifications of food insecurity, and this represents the first time such conditions have been detected in Afghanistan. According to the World Food Programme PreLean Season Assessment, in January and February 2022, 92 % of surveyed households reported having debt, of which 88 % stated that the primary reason for borrowing money was to purchase food."

"In the six months prior to April 2022, extreme negative coping mechanisms such as selling organs, marrying off children, and selling children were reported in 1 % of households, although the frequency of such occurrences is likely underreported. The reported coping mechanisms were most common in Sare-Pul province, accounting for 34

% of recorded instances of selling children as a food-related coping mechanism, as well as 32 % of selling organs and 30 % of child marriages as a food-related coping mechanism."

"IOM data from March and April 2022 state that those living in urban settlements are more likely to struggle to meet basic food needs compared to peri-urban and rural settlements."

 

Afghan Voice Agency, UN warning of food crisis in Afghanistan, 23 September 2022

“The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations has announced in a report that after November and

the cold weather, 6 million people in Afghanistan face extreme hunger.”

[…] “At the beginning of this week, hundreds of residents of Kabul started an anti-American demonstration and demanded the unconditional and immediate release of the reserves of the Central Bank of Afghanistan by the United States and Western countries.

The protesters chanted slogans and stated that this money should be handed over to the people of Afghanistan so that it can be used for the reconstruction and growth of the economy and other infrastructures and the people of Afghanistan can be saved from poverty.

According to the reports of the United Nations agencies, the reduction in the level of violence in Afghanistan has allowed charitable organisations to reach the needy, but the presence of landmines, explosive materials left over from the war, logistical challenges and poor infrastructure still limit access to the needy.”

 

WFP, Afghanistan mVAM Household Food Security Survey, https://docs.wfp.org/api/documents/WFP- 0000142339/download/?_ga=2.136356528.1847858807.1664477908-850732364.1660851029, 22 September 2022

“Amid persistent high food prices, average expenditure on food increased to 91 percent in July — a figure which has

continually increased since January (80 percent)”.

“Some six in ten households saw their incomes drop in July. This is similar to June, but a deterioration compared to four in ten households in April. Accordingly, more and more people have reported job losses and food prices as their top concerns in recent months.”

“. About one third of households (31 percent) faced challenges accessing markets in the last 14 days, which is the highest rate recorded in the past year. Most respondents cited the far distance to the market as the reason, while others cited travel restrictions. At the end of July, diesel prices were 107 percent higher compared to the same time last year.”

“Female-headed households are suffering disproportionate levels of hunger,5 with 96 percent facing insufficient food consumption aqmid restrictions on women and girls”

“Female-headed households are suffering disproportionate levels of hunger,5 with 96 percent facing insufficient

food consumption amid restrictions on women and girls”

 

Afghan Voice Agency, The United Nations demanded the continuation of aid to Afghanistan, 30 August 2022

“Poverty is deepening and the population is increasing; however, the Islamic Emirate does not have a budget to invest in the future.” [quote by Martins Griffiths]

“As winter approaches, more than 600 million dollars for urgent aid such as upgrading and repairing shelters and

providing warm clothes and blankets is needed.”

[…] “before the winter weather cuts off access to some parts of the country, $154 million is needed to prepare

resources, including food aid and livelihood.

The head of the United Nations aid has said that more than half of Afghanistan’s 39 million population needs humanitarian aid and 6 million people are at risk of famine. He also added that more than one million children ‘are estimated to suffer from the most severe and threatening form of malnutrition’ and may die without proper treatment.”

 

Aljazeera, UN says six million Afghans are at risk of famine as crises grow, 30 August 2022

“Martin Griffiths told the United Nations Security Council that Afghanistan faces multiple crises – humanitarian, economic, climate, hunger and financial – and that donors should immediately provide $770m to help Afghans survive the coming colder months.

 

Conflict, poverty, climate shocks and food insecurity “have long been a sad reality” in Afghanistan, but he said what makes the current situation “so critical” is the halt to large-scale development aid.”

“China’s UN Ambassador Zhang Jun also accused the US and its allies of ‘evading responsibility and abandoning the

Afghan people’ and imposing ‘political isolation and blockade’.”

 

WFP, Global food crisis: Cash offers hope as people feel the heat, 29 August 2022

“In Afghanistan, vocational training activities to learn new skills while being paid. Their savings can help them weather the country’s crisis, and hopefully increase their independence and employment opportunities. There will always be a need for direct food provision in some contexts, such as life-saving nutrition support. But in other contexts, especially where essential goods and services are available, giving people more money can be an appropriate, cost efficient and empowering response.”

Afghanaid, PRESS RELEASE: One year since Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, Afghanaid joins a network of 32 Afghan and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) urging the International Community not to abandon Afghans, 15 August 2022

“[...] Near-record low precipitation recorded in many parts of Afghanistan this year, combined with ongoing economic collapse, existing acute food insecurity and debt means as we approach another harsh Afghan winter, the situation in the country is set to become even more dire.

Currently, 92% of Afghan families are not eating enough food, and this percentage rises to almost 100% in families headed by women. [...]

Charles Davy, Managing Director at Afghanaid said: [...] “The continuing drought and economic collapse mean the possibility of famine this coming winter is progressively likely.””

 

Care International, Economic and Food Crisis in Afghanistan: The Impacts on Women and Girls, 15 August 2022

“The potential for women to earn an income in Afghanistan has deteriorated considerably since August 2021. 87.2% of the women surveyed reported a considerable decrease in their household income since August 2021. In Khost, a total of 100% (38) of households reported decreased income, and in Balkh, Ghazni, Herat, and Parwan, over 90% of respondents also reported a decrease.”

“As per the policy under the current regime, women are required to be accompanied by a mahram1 if they want to travel more 70km away from their homes. However, in some districts, the local authorities have told women that they cannot go outside of their homes, even to the local markets, without a mahram. The discrepancy in the

application of the rules at the local level further inhibits women’s movement. Women who were comfortable

going to the markets to buy food now rely more heavily on male household members to purchase food.”

“In order to cope with the lack of food, interviewees reported adopting the following mechanisms:… Resorting to high-risk coping mechanisms: Afghanistan has seen a high spike in the practice of early and forced child marriages, where cash-strapped families unable to feed all their children resort to selling children – most often their girls – and in some cases, their organs. 12% of households (or 41 households) indicated having to marry one of their girls under 18 due to the food crisis.”

 

Bloomber, Taliban’s rule batters Afghanistan year after us departure, 15 august 2022

“Millions of women have lost basic rights while the economy’s collapse and surging food prices have prompted

fears of widespread starvation.

[…]

Teenage girls can no longer attend school, few women are allowed to hold jobs, journalists are under siege and the country’s economy has collapsed just as a surge in global food prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine made widespread starvation a serious risk.

[…]

Women’s Rights

Afghan women are -- once again -- the primary victims of Taliban rule. Not long after taking power, the

group barred teenage girls from getting an education beyond the seventh grade, dismissed thousands of women from government jobs and prevented females from traveling alone unless accompanied by a male relative. Women are also again forced to wear head-to-toe burqas in public.

[…]

Economic Free-fall

An abrupt cut in international aid, which accounted for 40% of GDP, after the Taliban takeover was a crushing blow, coming at the same time as the worst drought in three decades and the Covid-19 pandemic.

The UN Development Programme says Afghanistan’s economy will shrink 5% in 2022 after contracting 20% last year, while the country’s per capita income is projected to decline by 30% to $360 in 2022. At the same time, the cost of essential items such as food and fuel have climbed by about 40%, it says.

[…]

Hunger

Nearly 23 million people, or more than half the country’s population, face acute hunger, a 65% increase since July 2021, just before the Taliban overran the country, according to reports by the World Food Programme and aid group Mercy Corps.

The situation is so desperate that some Afghans have resorted to selling personal belongings or even their young children into marriage in order to feed the rest of the family. Many others are trying to flee the country, adding to strains in neighboring nations including Pakistan.

[…]

Terrorism and Violence

Islamic State continues to be one of the biggest threats to the Taliban, carrying out major strikes on crowded areas. Recent attacks include one targeting attendees of a cricket game and another aimed at Shias taking part in a religious ceremony in Kabul, killing and wounding tens of people.

[…]

On the domestic security front, while the UN says there was a significant reduction in armed violence between

mid-August 2021 and mid-June 2022, the toll is still high. In that time the UN recorded 2,106 casualties, including 700 killed, with most of the violence carried out by Islamic State. And despite the Taliban declaring a general amnesty after the US left, the UN has reported 160 extrajudicial killings, 178 arbitrary detentions, 23 instances of incommunicado detentions and 56 instances of torture and ill-treatment of former government and military officials.

Freedom of Expression

After a blossoming of media outlets and free expression in the 20 years before the Taliban re-took power, the pendulum has swung back in the opposite direction, according to the UN.

More than 200 media outlets have ceased operations since last year, primarily due to financial difficulties, laying off over 7,000 media workers, according to Afghanistan’s Tolonews channel, citing the country’s federation of journalists.

Reporters and media staff are also increasingly the subject of human rights violations, the UN said in a July 20 report. That report highlighted 122 instances of journalists facing arbitrary arrest. In addition, six journalists were killed -- five by Islamic State affiliates.”

Mercy Corps, News Alert: Afghanistan Faces 65% Increase in Acute Hunger Since 2021 as Global Food Crisis Deepens, 11 August 2022

“One year since the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) assumed leadership in Afghanistan, over 20 million people – almost half the population – are facing acute hunger levels, a 65% increase since July 2021.

Economic stress, compounding ongoing drought, fallout from COVID-19 and grinding conflict has left 95% of Afghans without enough to eat every day.

After more than four decades of conflict and instability, 59% of Afghans need assistance – an increase of 6 million people compared to the beginning of 2021. If no action is taken, the United Nations predicts that 97% of the population will plunge below the poverty line in 2022.

Funds pledged to aid tens of millions of Afghans are failing to reach communities in need, due to an almost completely incapacitated banking system. Because of a nationwide shortage of banknotes, Afghans cannot pay for daily expenses and businesses are unable to pay salaries.

Jack Byrne, Mercy Corps’ Afghanistan Country Director, says: “The humanitarian situation in Afghanistan continues to deteriorate by the day. An inconceivable number of Afghans are experiencing acute hunger and our teams are seeing higher levels of poverty than ever before in the communities we support in Kandahar, Herat, and Mazar. Our teams have also seen an increase in teenage marriages, with families marrying away girls as young as 13 so they have one less mouth to feed.”

“The approaching winter means a strong likelihood of flash flooding due to years of drought, which have eroded fields and crops to dust. There will also be an increased need for essential winter supplies like blankets, fuel lamps, and hygiene products. While most of these items are available locally in shops, people do not have the money to purchase anything other than food and water. The almost total collapse of the economy means no cash in people's pockets. And while there is tremendous effort being made by humanitarian responders to meet immediate needs and help families avert worsening hunger, it will not be enough to rebuild livelihoods and the economy. The international community needs to take deliberate action to restore Afghanistan’s banking system to allow funds to reach those who most need it.””

 

Save the Children, One Year Under Taliban Rule, Girls are More Isolated, Hungry, Sad: New Report, 10 August 2022 “The report, titled Breaking point: Life for children one year since the Taliban takeover, shows that 97% of families are struggling to provide enough food for their children, and that girls are eating less than boys. Almost 80% of children said they had gone to bed hungry in the past 30 days. Girls were almost twice as likely as boys to frequently go to bed hungry.

A lack of food is having devastating consequences on children’s health and threatening their future. Nine in 10 girls said their meals had reduced in the past year and that they worry because they’re losing weight and have no energy to study, play and work. […]

Children interviewed by Save the Children said the economic situation – leaving households without enough to eat

girls more than boys. Out of the children who said they’d been asked to marry to improve their family’s financial

situation in the past year, 88% were girls.”

 

Gandhara, Afghan Girls' Lives 'Shattered' Since Return Of Taliban, Says New Report, 10 August 2022

“A humanitarian group says that one year into the return to power of the Taliban, Afghan girls have been confronted with a grave economic crisis, a crippling drought, and new restrictions that have shattered their lives, excluding them from society and leaving them hungry. As a result, a quarter of Afghan girls are showing signs of depression, Save the Children said in a new report on August 10. The report, titled Breaking Point: Life For Children One Year Since The Taliban Takeover, found that a whopping 97 percent of families are struggling to provide enough food for their children and almost 80 percent of children said they had gone to bed hungry in the past month. Girls were almost twice as likely as boys to frequently go to bed hungry, and eat less in general.”

 

AVA, Afghanistan was introduced as the poorest country in the world, 10 August, 2022

“By publishing a report, the World Bank has introduced the countries with the most severe food and debt crises. According to this report, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Mauritania, Somalia, Sudan, Tajikistan and Yemen have been declared as the poorest countries. […] According to the World Bank report, 69% of Afghan people are unable to meet their food needs and 16% of families consume less than one meal a day.”

 

Gandhara, Afghanistan’s Bare Dastarkhaans Reveal Rising Poverty, Hunger Under The Taliban, 10 August 2022

“The Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021 triggered the collapse of Afghanistan’s aid-dependent economy, leading to rising food prices and soaring unemployment. The economic crunch has fueled a hunger crisis in the country of some 40 million people. According to the United Nations, a staggering 95 percent of Afghans are not getting enough to eat. […] In March, the World Food Program said that almost 100 percent of female-headed households are facing "insufficient food consumption." Households headed by women are the most vulnerable group among the nearly 9 million Afghans, and the WFP warns they are at risk of "famine-like" conditions.”

 

The New Humanitarian, One year on, few options for Afghans escaping hunger and Taliban persecution, 10 August 2022

“More than 90 percent of the Afghan population is suffering from food insecurity, and each month tens of thousands of children need emergency medical treatment due to malnutrition, according to a recent report by Human Rights Watch. Households headed by women, who lost employment after the Taliban took power, have been hit the hardest. […] “The situation is at its worst ever,” Zaman Sultani, South Asia researcher at Amnesty International, told The New Humanitarian. “People are selling their daughters to get enough money [to live]. People are also selling their body parts and organs to feed the family. That is what the humanitarian situation is like on the ground, and it keeps on getting worse.””

 

The New Humanitarian, Unfreeze Afghan assets or more hungry children may die, 9 August 2022

“Following decades of conflict, people in Afghanistan are now grappling with another deadly issue as almost universal poverty grips the nation: soaring hunger. The Afghan economy had been deteriorating long before the government changed, but over the course of the Taliban’s first year back in power the country has suffered an economic implosion. This has led to almost 20 million people experiencing acute levels of food insecurity and put the lives of 1.1 million children with severe acute malnutrition at risk. There is no doubt that the abrupt suspension of international development aid last year has had a knock-on effect on the economy: For 20 years, development funding provided an estimated 70-80 percent of the previous government’s budget, and its withdrawal swiftly brought the health and education sectors to their knees, affecting millions of people. The freezing of Afghanistan’s assets has also been a cause of this dire economic stagnation. Some $9.1 billion of Afghanistan’s national reserves have been frozen overseas, and lack of access to these reserves is effectively preventing Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB) – the Central Bank of Afghanistan – from performing its core regulatory functions of managing banking system volatility, stabilising the country’s currency, and, by extension, avoiding dramatic increases in the price of basic

and without basic items – was driving an increase in child marriages in their communities, and that this was impacting

 

commodities such as food, fuel, and medicines.”

 

TOLO News, Beggars Increase on Streets of Kabul Amid Widespread Poverty, 9 August 2022

“As the level of the poverty and unemployment rises across the country, the number of beggars is growing every day in the capital city of Kabul. Some beggars in Kabul told TOLOnews that they are willing to cease begging if the Islamic Emirate provides them with employment with which they can earn a living.”

 

Ariana News, Nine out of ten people in Afghanistan face a lack of food: WFP, 4 August, 2022

“[…] statistics from relief organizations show that this year, malnutrition threatens the lives of nearly five million children and pregnant and lactating women in Afghanistan, and currently 3.9 million children are suffering from malnutrition.Last year, after the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA), came to power, aid organizations and countries stopped financial aid to Afghanistan, which led to a humanitarian and economic crisis in the country. Recently, the World Food Program said that more than 24 million people in Afghanistan are food insecure and more than 90% of Afghans need food aid. Meanwhile, the head of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) office says that the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan has increased by 30 percent compared to last year. A statement from this office quoted Neil Turner, NRC country director for Afghanistan, as saying that more than 24 million people in Afghanistan need humanitarian aid to survive.”

 

Human Rights Watch, Afghanistan: Economic Crisis Underlies Mass Hunger, 4 August 2022

“[…] Acute malnutrition is entrenched across Afghanistan, even though food and basic supplies are available in markets throughout the country. An Afghan humanitarian official told Human Rights Watch in mid-July, “People have nothing to eat. You may not imagine it, but children are starving…. The situation is dire, especially if you go to the villages.” He said he knew of one family who had lost two children, ages 5 and 2, to starvation in the last two months: “This is unbelievable in 2022.” He said that he knew of no shortages in food supplies and that the causes of the crisis were economic: “A functioning banking system is an immediate and crucial need to address the humanitarian crisis.” Almost 20 million people – half the population – are suffering either level-3 “crisis” or level-4 “emergency levels of food insecurity under the assessment system of the World Food Programmes (WFP). Over one million children under 5 – especially at risk of dying when deprived of food – are suffering from prolonged acute malnutrition, meaning that even if they survive, they face significant health problems, including stunting. Recently, the WFP reported that tens of thousands of people in one province, Ghor, had slipped into “catastrophic” level-5 acute malnutrition, a precursor to famine.

Overall, more than 90 percent of Afghans have been suffering from some form of food insecurity since last August, skipping meals or whole days of eating and engaging in extreme coping mechanisms to pay for food, including sending children to work. […]

Afghanistan’s humanitarian situation would be even worse had the United Nations and other aid providers not substantially increased their operations in 2022, Human Rights Watch said. As the World Food Programme stated in a food security assessment for June through November 2022, “The severity of the situation is only partially mitigated by the unprecedented surge of humanitarian assistance that covers 38 percent of the total population of Afghanistan in the current period. In the absence of such assistance, the magnitude and severity of needs would be dramatically higher.””

 

SIGAR, July 30, 2022 Quarterly Report to Congress, 30 July 2022

“The UN World Food Programme projects that 18.9 million Afghans will face acute food insecurity between June and November 2022, including 4.7 million children and pregnant and lactating women. Some 19.7 million Afghans faced acute malnutrition between March and May 2022.

A 5.9-magnitude earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan, killing at least 1,000 people and injuring 3,000. Taliban supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada made a rare plea for international help in response efforts.

The Taliban released their first annual budget since taking power, outlining 231.4 billion afghani ($2.6 billion) in expenditures and forecasting 186.7 afghani ($2.1 billion) in domestic revenues for 2022.

The Taliban signed an agreement with a United Arab Emirates state-run aviation company to manage ground handling and security operations at international airports in Kabul, Kandahar, and Herat”

 

ICRC, Multilateral efforts needed to stem rising costs of global food staples and decline of livelihood in Ukraine, 28 July 2022

“If we look at places where we operate and where we conducted these surveys, we see some stark trends. Again, this is a market price review where we look on a monthly basis at an average of 20 food and non-food commodities per country, disaggregated by location and market. These are basic commodities needed by the affected people to survive.

We have found percentages increases across the board with:

• […]

• Afghanistan 36%

• […]

Each of these show a crisis-level increase in the price of their respective minimum food baskets over the past year.”

 

[video] IRC, In Afghanistan, an IRC volunteer goes door to door to prevent child malnutrition, 27 July 2022

 

Khaama Press, WFP: Food Insecurity Crisis Continues to Affect More Than Half of Afghans, 24 July 2022

“Food insecurity is on the rise among female-headed households, with nearly all experiencing insufficient food intake.

According to the WFP’s report, between June and November 2022, 18.9 million Afghans, or nearly half the country’s population, will experience severe food insecurity.

According to the WFP’s most recent Food Security Update, over 90% of Afghans have consumed inadequate food

for more than nine months.

WFP warned that 4.7 million Afghan children, pregnant women, and breastfeeding mothers could experience acute malnutrition in 2022.

According to a WFP assessment, Afghanistan’s harvest is predicted to be below average due to recurrent drought and unpredictable weather shocks, which might worsen the country’s already dire food insecurity situation.

WFP has provided food, nutrition, and resilience support to more than 2 million people in July. However, to funding restrictions, WFP was compelled to lower its caseload in July to a target of only 10 million people.

Since Kabul fell in August and American troops left, the Taliban-controlled government has been cut off from the global economy, resulting in a financial catastrophe, extreme poverty, food insecurity and inflation, and the loss of essential public services, such as healthcare.”

 

AVA, World Food Organization assistance to more than 18 million people in Afghanistan, 16 July 2022

“[…] nearly 19 million people who are facing malnutrition […]”

 

Khaama Press (Afghan News Agency), Afghanistan Humanitarian Fund Receives $2.2 Million Contribution from Switzerland: OCHA, 13 July 2022

"According to the World Food Program, since the Taliban took control of the government, half of Afghanistan’s

population has experienced hunger.

International assistance was significantly cut back after the Taliban were re-established in Afghanistan, and the

World Bank’s funding for development was severely constrained."

 

Deutsche Welle (Afghanistan), Ukraine war worsens food insecurity worldwide – report, 12 July 2022

"some 811 million people are going hungry worldwide, with the situation particularly extreme in Afghanistan, South Sudan and Yemen."

 

Pajhwok Afghan News (Afghan News Agency), Drought affects grapes yield in Kandahar this season, 11 July 2022

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Gandhara, Muslims Celebrate Eid Al-Adha Amid Rising Food Prices from War In Ukraine, 10 July 2022

"In Afghanistan, there is normally a shopping rush for animals ahead of Eid al-Adha. But this year, the global food- price hikes and economic devastation since the Taliban takeover have put it beyond the reach of many Afghans."

 

Ariana News, India signs MoU for wheat donation to Afghanistan, 10 July 2022

"Almost half the population of 19.7 million people faces acute food insecurity and requires emergency food assistance, with needs mounting in Afghanistan, according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) assessment released in May 2022"

 

The Guardian, Famine: what is it, where will it strike and how should the world respond, 6 July 2022

"According to the IPC, no area meets the criteria for a phase-5 famine classification. However, several countries […]

Afghanistan – have sections of their population living with phase-5 catastrophic levels of hunger." "More than half of the Afghan population is on the brink of famine."

 

Khaama News (Afghan News Agency), UNOCHA: Germany Contributes €50 Million to Afghanistan Humanitarian

Fund, 6 July 2022

"Afghanistan’s poverty and unemployment have increased due to the country’s political unrest and drought. […] more than 22 million people, or more than half of the country’s population, are experiencing extreme hunger, with the majority unable to predict when their next meal will be, according to the United Nations World Food Program."

 

IOM, Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) (Afghanistan), Afghanistan — Baseline Mobility Assessment and Emergency Community-Based Needs Assessment Summary Results (March—April 2022), July 2022

"Afghanistan’s vulnerability to conflict and natural disasters frequently leads to high levels of food insecurity. As a

result of overall food scarcity in the country, the diversity of food intake by families in the country is limited. Sixteen per cent of households consume one meal or less per day. Faryab province has the highest prevalence of households eating one meal or less per day (37% of households). "

"One in five households (18%) in urban areas eat one meal or less per day, compared with 14% of peri-urban households and 16% of rural households."

"One out of 10 households in Afghanistan relies on food aid as a source of staple food (bread). Twenty-seven per cent of households produce bread themselves, and almost two-thirds of households purchase bread in markets. Daykundi province shows high rates of purchasing bread in markets (86%), while most households in Samangan produce bread themselves (71%). The province that relies the most on food aid for bread is Badakhshan (43%). Rural areas report higher rates of producing their own staple food (35%), compared with peri-urban (24%) and urban settlements (13%). Urban areas report higher rates of purchasing staple food from markets (78%), compared to 62% in peri-urban and 56% in rural settlements. Lastly, all areas report similar levels of receiving food aid for staple food: 14% in peri-urban areas, 9% in urban areas, and 8% in rural areas."

"Over half of people in communities across Afghanistan cannot afford their basic food needs. The worst case is in Bamyan province, where over 9 out of 10 people in communities (92%) are unable to afford their basic food needs."

"Urban settlements face slightly more difficulty achieving their basic food needs, with 71% of the people in the community being unable to afford basic food needs, compared with 68% among both peri-urban and rural settlements."

"Almost one quarter (23%) of people in communities across Afghanistan cannot access their basic food needs. Wardak province faces the worst rates of individuals being unable to access basic food needs (88%). On average, similar shares of people in rural, peri-urban, and urban settlements are unable to access basic food needs: 23%, 24%, and 22% respectively."

"In the face of these common barriers to affording and accessing basic food needs, families continue to rely on a variety of coping mechanisms. The most common coping mechanism is relying on less preferred foods, which is

practiced by over two out of every five households (42%) on average across the country - Nuristan, Khost, Herat provinces reported the highest rate of this practice (67%, 64%, and 64%)."

"Eight per cent of all households borrow money for food, this is the most common in Paktika (21%), Zabul (17%), and Nimruz (15%) provinces. Ten per cent of households rely on humanitarian assistance for food, especially in Badakhshan (31%), Faryab (24%), and Nimruz (22%) provinces."

 

The New Humanitarian, Afghan earthquake survivors ask: How will I rebuild my home?, 29 June 2022

"In addition to inadequate funding and poor governance, a severe and prolonged drought has battered crops and livestock. Between July 2021 and March 2022, the number of Afghans facing acute hunger rose from 14 million to 23 million – more than half the population. Some 95 percent of the country does not have enough to eat."

 

Save the Children, Fears for 118,000 children in wake of Afghanistan’s deadly earthquake, 23 June 2022

“Save the Children has grave concerns for more than 118,000 children[i] who may have been impacted by the earthquake in Afghanistan’s south-east. We have reports of people sheltering out in the open under plastic sheets and many children are now most likely without clean drinking water, food and a safe place to sleep. “Children are

among the most vulnerable in the wake of natural disasters as they are at greater risk of hunger, dying due to their injuries and contracting infectious diseases. When separated from loved ones or orphaned, they are also at further risk of exploitation and abuse.”

 

IOM, Snapshot Report Round 4 (February to March 2022), 22 June 2022

"At the time of the interview, 82 per cent of participants said that their personal economic situation had worsened in the last six months. Similarly, 86 per cent of interviewees said that their economic situation had worsened at the household level."

"Most respondents (94%) reported that their household income was not enough to cover basic needs. Common coping mechanisms for insufficient income include borrowing money from friends or relatives (94%), reducing food expenditures (88%) and relying on humanitarian assistance (23%). It is worth noting that five respondents withdrew their children from school so that they could work and contribute to the household income"

 

Tolo News, MoRR Calls on UNHCR to Address Problems of Refugees, 21 June 2022

“The Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation (MoRR) called on the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to address the problems of Afghan refugees abroad. Talking to the gathering held to mark World Refugee Day, the acting Minister of Refugees and Repatriation, Khalil Rahman Haqqani, expressed concerns over the mistreatment of

Afghan refugees abroad. “The rights of refugees, their problems must be raised to the whole world and to those

who are responsible for them,” he said. “To support them (refugees), there is a need for the support of the international community and other organizations,” said Arsalan Kharotai, deputy Minister of Refugees and

Repatriation. Speaking at the same gathering, the head of the UNHCR’s Representative, Leonard Zulu, said that around 24 million Afghans are facing acute hunger.”

 

Ariana News, Malnutrition cases increase in north of Afghanistan by 50%, 19 June 2022

 

AVA, Poverty in Afghanistan / The Red Cross called for 80 million francs in emergency aid, 16 June 2022

“The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has released a report on Afghanistan today (Thursday, June 16) stating that due to the humanitarian situation, it has extended its emergency request from 36 million francs to 80 million francs by 31 December 2023. The Red Cross has called for help for 2 million people in 34 provinces; the figure, which the organization believes makes up 10 percent of Afghanistan's affected population. The committee went on to say that drought, severe economic and health crises have affected the entire territory of Afghanistan. According to the Red Cross, restrictions on the participation of women and minority groups, and displacement inside and outside the borders have added to this difficult situation. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) further noted that disruptions in the public service system have weakened investment in Afghanistan. "More than half of children under the age of five are expected to experience acute malnutrition," the Red Cross

added. Unemployment, a weak health system, gaps in the health system, education, energy and public services are other factors that put pressure on people. This urgent call for help to the people of Afghanistan was made by the International Committee of the Red Cross at a time when Afghanistan is facing unprecedented unemployment, poverty and hunger following recent developments.”

 

ACTED, Cash Based Transfers in Ghor, UNDATED [January 2022 – June 2022]

“Through this 6-month intervention, ACTED will provide 5 months of unconditional nutrition-sensitive cash food assistance to 22,774 crisis-affected HHs (159,418 individuals) and an additional 1-month of unconditional nutrition- sensitive cash food assistance to the most vulnerable 12,652 HHs (88,564 individuals) identified through additional data gathering during SCOPE registration. The objectives of this intervention are to distribute cash assistance to the most food insecure households, including Pregnant and Lactating women and children under 5, to prevent

deterioration of their food security and nutritional status and to mitigate against negative coping strategies.”

ACTED, Cash Based Transfers in Herat, UNDATED [January 2022 – June 2022]

“Through this 6-month intervention, ACTED will provide 5 months of unconditional nutrition-sensitive cash food assistance to 15,000 crisis-affected HHs (105,000 individuals) and an additional 1-month of unconditional nutrition- sensitive cash food assistance to the most vulnerable to 8,477 HHs (59,339 individuals) identified through additional data gathering during SCOPE registration. The objectives of this intervention are to distribute cash assistance to food insecure HHs in Informal Settlements (ISETs) in Herat including returnees and IDPs to minimize the negative coping strategies during the months of most severe food insecurity.”

 

WFP, WFP at a glance, 16 June 2022

"The report confirmed fears that Afghanistan would face a record high number of people in critical food insecurity in the coming months, with a serious risk of starvation and death among parts of the population."

 

UNICEF, Afghanistan Humanitarian Situation Report, 15 June 2022

"45 per cent of the population remain in crisis to emergency phases of food insecurity."

 

BBC News, Scraps of stale bread are keeping Afghans alive, 15 June 2022

“On a market stall in front of a blue-domed mosque in Kabul, large orange sacks are filled with stale, leftover naan bread. It's usually fed to animals, but now, according to those selling it, more Afghans than ever are eating it themselves. Shafi Mohammed has been selling stale bread for the past 30 years at Kabul's Pul-e-Kheshti market. "Before, five people used to buy this bread in a day, now it's more than 20 people," he says.”

 

UNOCHR, Oral update on Afghanistan Statement by Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, 15 June 2022

“Intersecting humanitarian and economic crises continue to have a devastating impact on the lives of all Afghans. Today, with mounting unemployment rates, 93 percent of all households are facing a high level of food insecurity with differential, devastating impact on those most vulnerable –female-headed households, aged persons, people with disabilities and children. Access to basic services including healthcare is also diminishing. According to the World Health Organization, some 18.1 million people are in need of health services, including 3.19 million children under five. Compounding all of this is the glaring absence of functioning national mechanisms to monitor human rights violations, severely limiting the ability to provide basic protection for the Afghan people, especially vulnerable groups such as children, people with disabilities, internally displaced people, minorities, and LGBTQI

communities.”

 

United Nations World Food Programme (Afghanistan), ‘Keep the world’s attention on Afghanistan’ warns EU humanitarian chief, 15 June 2022

"Households face an acute lack of food and would have to resort to desperate coping measures to feed their children such as selling household items and, in the extreme cases, their own children. Immediate action is needed

to prevent a further deterioration and a worsening situation in Ghor. The World Food Programme (WFP) is planning to assist 700,000 highly vulnerable people for the next two months, with distributions already under way."

 

Pajhwok, Soaring food prices irk Ghor, Nimroz, Badghis residents, 14 June 2022

“The residents of Ghor, Badghis and Nimroz provinces complain about the soaring prices of essential food items and ask relevant officials to control the prices. Abdul Hakim, a resident of Qala-i-Naw, the capital of northwestern Badghis province, told Pajhwok Afghan News the price of 150 grams of bread had surged from 10 afs to 15 afs which was now out of the reach of poor people. He said the price of 24.5 kilogram of rice had increased from 2,100 afs to 2,500 afs.”

 

Aga Khan Foundation, EU grant to assist over 100,000 Afghans and their communities, 13 June 2022

“Building on its longstanding relationship with the European Union (EU) in Afghanistan, the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) has signed a grant agreement with its humanitarian arm. The EUR 2.8 million grant will bolster AKF’s ongoing efforts to support the people of Afghanistan amidst one of the world’s most dire humanitarian crises.

Humanitarian needs in Afghanistan continue to rise with an estimated 24.4 million people in need and 23 million experiencing crisis or emergency levels of food insecurity. Mountainous areas in the northeast and central highlands faced high food insecurity pre-August 2021 due to remoteness, small landholdings, a short growing season and drought. Political and economic shocks in the aftermath of August 2021 have compounded this, leaving many without access to sufficient food or water. Through this 12-month emergency response project, AKF, alongside the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat, will reach nearly 100,000 vulnerable, drought-affected people with life- saving assistance. Over 35,000 people will receive emergency food support through the provision of a basket of basic goods, sufficient to feed a family of seven. Wherever possible, this assistance will be provided in cash to support the local economy. […] Finally, the project will support the livelihoods of rural Afghans through the protection of livestock. Due to past and ongoing drought, the shutdown of veterinarian services following August 2021 and limited or no access to inputs (feed, medicines), livestock mortality rates have risen dramatically while productivity levels have decreased. This directly impacts farmers’ income. In response, the project will provide nearly 16,000 farmers with emergency animal health services and medicines, as well as supply feed to over 2,000 farmers and fodder seeds to a further 500.”

 

AVA, The Save the Children organization emphasized continuing cooperation with Afghanistan, 13 June 2022

“In a meeting with Shir Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ms. Nora Ingdal, Director of International Programs at the Save the Children Institute, assured that the Institute would continue its cooperation. Afghan Voice Agency (AVA): In this meeting, Ms. Nora informed the Political Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs about the plans of this institute in Afghanistan and said that this institute has been working in the fields of education, health and security for forty-five years without any political considerations. He expressed satisfaction with the relative security in Afghanistan, adding that they can now take care of children in need without any worries. The Deputy Foreign Minister also thanked the institute for its continued cooperation and added that decades of war in Afghanistan have affected children as well as adults, and now that the war is over, addressing this group will be one of the priorities of the Islamic Emirate. It is noteworthy that despite the support of the international community, a large number of Afghan children are currently in poor health and food security.”

 

UN News, Afghanistan: World Bank provides $150 million lifeline to stem rural hunger, 13 June 2022

"Some 19.7 million people – almost half of Afghanistan’s population – are facing acute hunger, meaning that they are unable to feed themselves on a daily basis, according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis released last month by the UN and aid partners, including FAO and the World Food Programme (WFP).

The ripple effects from the war in Ukraine are exacerbating the food security situation, pushing food prices to new highs, increasing food production costs, especially fertilizer, and placing pressure on countries in the region supplying wheat to Afghanistan, to restrict food exports, to ensure sufficient domestic supplies."

 

The Guardian, ‘We exist but it is not a life’: Afghan women face bleak prospects under Taliban, 13 June 2022

"Afghanistan’s dire food crisis is complex. At one level, Kabul’s dusty markets look full with potatoes, tomatoes, ubiquitous watermelons and mangoes. Moreover, the Taliban’s return to power means the UN can reach areas of the country that were formerly out of bounds, ironically because they were Taliban strongholds.

But the surface impression is deceptive, said Hsiao-Wei Lee, the WFP’s deputy director in Afghanistan. The collapse in the economy means few people have jobs, and the poor simply cannot afford what is on display in the markets. Three-quarters of Afghan income is spent on food and 82% are in debt. “It’s is about maxing out the calories and so tomatoes and potatoes are not right. Traders say they are having to throw away more food,” Lee said.

“Donors stepped up late last autumn so we could avoid the worst of the predicted winter crisis, and we are prepositioning food for next winter, but lack of funds means we are now having to scale back.” Only $1.2m (£960,000) of the $4.2m sought by the UN appeal for this year was offered. There have been five droughts in three years, and it normally takes three years for an area to recover from such an episode."

 

United Nations World Food Programme (Afghanistan), ‘Every day I pray for food assistance for us’: UK funding brings relief to families in Afghanistan, 10 June 2022

"According to the global standard for food insecurity (the IPC or Integrated Food Phase Classification), nearly 20 million people are facing food insecurity, with 6.6 million facing acute hunger. "

 

AVA, Britain shadow foreign secretary in Kabul, 9 June 2022

“Lammy is the first senior British politician to visit the country since the west’s chaotic withdrawal last August. He is being accompanied by Preet Gill, the shadow minister for international development. “The UK’s handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan last summer was a total disaster,” Lammy said on Twitter on Wednesday. “Today I

am in Kabul to raise awareness of the millions of Afghanistan’s civilians who are suffering from starvation.” Lammy added that the UK ministers must “urgently set out a strategy for engaging with Afghanistan to support the millions of civilians who are starving, restore the 0.7% commitment to international aid, and lead the world by

convening an emergency global food summit with the UN.” Afghanistan has around 3.4 million people displaced within the country, according to UN data, and around 2.6 million refugees outside the country. The economic situation is dire in the country with roughly 23 million people experiencing acute hunger and 95% of the population not eating enough food, according to the U.N. In March, the UK hosted an international donor conference after the UN appealed for $4.4 billion, but only $2.44 billion was pledged at the meeting. “The

government downgraded the UK’s international reputation and made the whole world less safe with its calamitous

handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan last summer,” Lammy said as quoted by the Guardian.”

 

The Guardian, David Lammy visits Afghanistan to highlight humanitarian crisis, 8 June 2022

"Today millions of Afghanistan’s civilians are suffering from starvation, with some even forced to sell body parts to

feed their families."

 

Ariana News, UN Needs 3 billion in cash aid for Afghanistan before next winter, 6 June 2022

The United Nations estimates that 19.8 million people in Afghanistan are in urgent need of food aid. Among them,

1.1 million young children in Afghanistan are at risk of death."

 

AVA Press, Human Rights Watch sending immediate humanitarian aid to the people of Afghanistan is necessary, 4 June 2022

"According to the United Nations, more than one million children in Afghanistan are at risk of death due to famine and malnutrition this year."

AVA Press, Distribution of million aid to the people of Afghanistan, 1 June 2022

"According to the World Food Programme, 18 million people in Afghanistan will need immediate assistance and food and other basic necessities next month."

 

AREU, Afghanistan Covid-19 Poverty Report, 1 June 2022

"Afghanistan was not food secure before Covid-19 due to protracted years of conflict and severe droughts. The impacts of Covid-19 have worsened the situation for many rural and urban poor households. Across the country, quantitative analysis of survey data indicates that 69% of households before Covid-19 (October 2019– March 2020) had worried about not having enough food to eat, a figure which rose to 76% during the initial months of the pandemic (April–September 2020). More households during this same pandemic period compared to the preceding months also reported eating less, skipping meals, eating fewer kinds of food, and various other factors reflecting their heightened food insecurity."

"To overcome and reduce the economic hardship of Covid-19, the government of Afghanistan implemented a range of aid programmes in which they identified the vulnerable people to whom they distributed cash. With the support of other international partners like WFP, food aid like flour, bread, wheat and lentils were distributed to people at risk of economic hardship. Social networks, local traders, people in business, and other wealthy people also supported those who lost their jobs or income sources. Despite the reported prevalence of these programmes, few respondents indicated that they had received any formal support through the Covid-19 crisis other than a small number of food rations and small one-off cash transfers. Most reported that the distribution of support to households in need was very opaque and largely depended on relationships with local leaders."

 

Tolo News, UNHCR: Half of Afghan Population Relies on Humanitarian Aid, 28 May 2022

“The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) said that more than half of Afghanistan's population is dependent on life-saving humanitarian assistance and protection. According to the organization, one in two people in Afghanistan do not know where their next meal is coming from. […] “Afghanistan's people cannot be left behind. We provide direct aid to the most vulnerable. We build schools, health centers, water projects and roads

to provide conditions for the voluntary return of refugees and displaced people when they feel ready,” UNHCR Canberra tweeted. But the Ministry of Economy said the numbers of this ministry show that the poverty level in the country is decreasing.”

 

UNICEF, Afghanistan Humanitarian Situation Report Report # 5 1-30 April 2022, 26 May 2022

“• During the reporting period [1-30 April 2022], 40,758 children were treated for Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM)

- a 14% increase since March.

• UNICEF-supported mobile health and nutrition teams reached around 130,000 people in remote and hard to reach areas in April.

• With UNICEF support more than 175,000 children and caregivers received life-saving child protection services including psycho-social support and case-management.”

 

OHCHR, Statement by Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, concluding his visit to Kabul and Balkh and Kandahar provinces carried out from 15 to 26 May 2022 (reduction in armed fighting and civilian casualties since August 2021; deterioration of the human rights situation; humanitarian and economic crisis), 26 May 2022

“The Special Rapporteur expresses concern about humanitarian and economic crisis - seriously impacting the great majority of the 40 million people in the country. According to humanitarian assessments, over 23 million people are in need of food assistance and approximately 95 percent of the population has insufficient food consumption. Numerous Afghans, including those in the middle class, told the expert that their priority now is to have enough to eat.”

 

Khaama Press, Food inflation; a sack of Flour Costs 2,800 Afghanis in Kabul, 22 May 2022

"A sack of flour is now priced at 2,800 to 3,000 Afghanis, while previously, it was sold at 1,400 Afghanis, according

to a number of Kabul locals. According to them, food prices have risen as a result of the lack of price regulation in the marketplaces. People stated that they used to purchase 20 liters of cooking oil at a cost of 2,000 Afghanis, but that now only 10 liters of cooking oil cost 2,200 Afghanis. Food price, they added, had declined slightly from what it was in the previous six months but, it has soared more than double in recent days. Sellers, on the other hand, blame the high inflation on rising commodities, explaining that when the Afghani depreciates against the dollar, food prices increase. The food inflation comes at a time when Afghani has devalued against the dollar in the last two days, and one dollar is now worth ninety-one (91) Afghanis."

 

Khaama Press, UN Warns that Over 1 Million Children in Afghanistan are at Risk of Wasting, 18 May 2022

"According to the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), 1.1 million Afghan children are at risk of wasting this year."

 

UNICEF, Afghanistan diaries: Supporting health, learning and hope: Paloma Escudero, UNICEF Director for Global Communication and Advocacy, reflects on a recent visit to Afghanistan, 12 May 2022

“16 April 2022 […] UNICEF security specialist in Kabul, along with one of our local security officers, describe the months-long effort. Their 14-person team covered over 2,000 kilometres – from Kandahar, through Urozgan, Helmand and Nimroz, close to the border with Iran. Two thousand kilometres of villages, they tell me, now accessible to UNICEF staff who have stayed in the country to deliver nutrition, education and other essential services for Afghanistan’s children. […] On the outskirts of Kabul, we pass children in the streets. A young girl,

seeking money for her family. A boy working at one of the market stalls that line the road. It’s two weeks into the holy month of Ramadan, and tables pile high with fruits and vegetables. But there are no crowds here. […] The empty stalls are a stark contrast from the place we’re headed. It’s a three-hour drive to Paktya Regional Hospital, in Gardez, where dozens of families fill the waiting room. […] This is one of more than 2,300 health facilities across the country that UNICEF, together with WHO, is supporting. The hospital serves over 75,000 people throughout Paktya Province. As fighting in recent months has let up, more Afghans are able to seek out health care – a blessing for children and their parents. But the jump in demand is straining the health sector. To help prevent the system from collapsing, UNICEF and WHO are providing the supplies, salaries and training needed to keep services

running. No sooner than we arrive, I’m guided into a treatment ward for children with severe acute malnutrition. […] This year alone, some 3.2 million children are projected to suffer from severe malnutrition across the country. As we make our way to another part of the ward, Dr. Niamatullah Zaheer, the hospital director, tells me his staff are overwhelmed. The hospital’s only paediatrician regularly screens more than 100 children a day. Even the neonatal unit is stretched: Too often, the hospital is forced to accommodate more than one infant per bed.”

 

International Rescue Committee, From Humanitarian Response to Economic Recovery: recommendations for addressing acute needs and the root causes of the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, 11 May 2022

“In Afghanistan, state failure and economic collapse are now the primary drivers of a humanitarian catastrophe unfolding at breakneck speed. Unemployment and poverty are now the greatest drivers of internal displacement. However, the crisis in Afghanistan is evolving into a catastrophe of choice as these same governments maintain policies of economic isolation that are pushing the Afghan economy to the brink and causing nearly 19m Afghans to experience high levels of acute food insecurity in the coming months."

 

Save the Children, ALMOST 10 MILLION CHILDREN GOING HUNGRY IN AFGHANISTAN AS FOOD AID ALONE FAILS TO THE MEET TIDAL WAVE OF NEED, 11 May 2022

“9.6 million children in Afghanistan are going hungry every day due to a dire combination of economic collapse, the impacts of the war in Ukraine and the ongoing drought, new figures released today show. Immediate food assistance is needed to save lives in the short-term, but aid alone is not enough to tackle the country’s worst hunger crisis on record, Save the Children said. The figures […] show that despite a significant amount of food aid

reaching families in recent months, 19.7 million children and adults – almost 50% of the population – are still going hungry and need urgent support to survive. From March to May alone, 20,000 people were pushed into famine.

When the Taliban took control in August last year, the international community responded largely by freezing

Taliban administration. Afghan children are now bearing the brunt of the international community’s policies, which

have starved the country of cash, and sent the economy into a downward spiral. Poverty, unemployment and food prices have dramatically increased, forcing parents to take desperate measures to feed their children. Save the Children's Director of Advocacy, Communications and Media, Athena Rayburn said: “Every single day our frontline health workers are treating children who are wasting away in front of our eyes because they’re only eating bread once a day –and those are the lucky ones. Children in Afghanistan have never known a life without conflict and if action is not taken soon, they will not know a world without gnawing hunger and empty stomachs. Now is not the time for the world to turn its back on Afghanistan’s children. “Although 18.9 million children and adults are projected to need food aid from June to November this year, there is only enough funding to provide support for

3.2 million people. With the world’s attention diverted to Ukraine, there is waning hope of addressing this crisis in time. Each day that passes without the funds needed sees more children lose their lives to preventable causes. “The international community must address both the gap in funds and Afghanistan’s economic collapse by identifying ways to increase liquidity in the country’s economy. Until the economic crisis is addressed, and rising poverty stemmed, children will continue to face catastrophic levels of hunger. Aid alone cannot save their lives.” Maryam*, 26, has five children and lives in Faryab Province in Afghanistan, where many families only have one meal a day, and the public hospitals are overflowing with children suffering from severe acute malnutrition.

Maryam’s husband is in Iran trying to find work so he can send money back to his family to help them survive. “I am worried about my children,” Maryam told Save the Children. “I can only borrow cash and buy them food but mostly I don’t have sufficient food for them. Sometimes we have food to eat and some days we don’t.” Maryam recently borrowed a large sum of money to take her baby Khal Mirza*, who has severe acute malnutrition, to hospital. Once he was discharged from hospital, Maryam took him to one of Save the Children’s mobile health clinics, which provide services in her community. Following treatment with Save the Children’s doctors, Khal Mirza is thankfully improving. But many severely malnourished children are not so lucky. With Afghanistan’s healthcare system desperately lacking resources and staff, many children cannot access the care they need to survive. A Save the Children assessment also found that more than 50 percent of surveyed families couldn’t access healthcare, mainly because they didn’t have the money to pay for the services. Save the Children said the UK Government has shown leadership by co-hosting the recent Afghanistan pledging summit and committing an additional £286 million in funding. As Afghanistan faces it worst food crisis since records began, it is crucial that this money is dispersed rapidly and effectively in order to prevent further loss of life. The aid agency is calling for the UK to work with other governments to unlock financial assets and address the liquidity crisis, to prevent more and more

Afghan families sinking further into poverty and debt.”

 

ToloNews, Save the Children: Nearly 10M Afghan Children Going Hungry, 10 May 2022

"Save the Children in its latest report said that 9.6 million children in Afghanistan are going hungry every day due to a dire combination of economic collapse, the impact of the war in Ukraine and the ongoing drought, new figures released on Tuesday show."

 

Al Jazeera, Nearly 10 million children going hungry in Afghanistan, says NGO, 10 May 2022

"Save the Children says almost 50 percent of the population needs urgent support to survive despite continuing food aid. […] “Every single day our front-line health workers are treating children who are wasting away in front of our eyes because they’re only eating bread once a day – and those are the lucky ones,” said Save the Children’s director of advocacy, communications and media, Athena Rayburn. “Children in Afghanistan have never known a life without conflict and if action is not taken soon, they will not know a world without gnawing hunger and empty stomachs,” she added. Rayburn explained that although 18.9 million children and adults were expected to need food aid for the latter half of this year, available funding for food aid could only provide support for 3.2 million people. She added that as the world’s attention continues to be diverted to Ukraine, the situation in Afghanistan will continue to get worse."

 

Khaama, Nearly 20M Going Hungry in Afghanistan: UN Analysis, 10 May 2022

assets and suspending development assistance to mitigate the risk of indirectly providing funds to the de-facto

 

according to a latest UN-backed report published Monday, depicting a “catastrophic” economy in the country since

the Taliban takeover last August. Latest analysis by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) also

revealed a pocket of “catastrophic” levels of food insecurity in the northeast, affecting thousands other locals."

 

Ariana News, Record levels of hunger persist in Afghanistan, WFP warns in latest report, 10 May 2022

"Almost half of Afghanistan’s population – 19.7 million – are facing acute hunger according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis conducted in January and February this year by food security cluster partners of the United Nations."

 

ToloNews. Flour and Cooking Oil Prices Rise in Kabul, 10 May 2022

"The price of 50 kg flour increased by 150 Afghanis and 16 Liters of oil increased by 200 Afghanis in less than ten days."

 

IPC - Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, Afghanistan: Nearly 20 million Afghans experiencing high acute food insecurity, 9 May 2022

"High acute food insecurity persists across Afghanistan, as a combination of a collapsing economy and drought is depriving nearly 20 million Afghans of food, classified in Crisis or Emergency (IPC Phases 3 or 4), between March and May 2022 (the lean season), latest data shows. Among these are about 6.6 million people in Emergency (IPC Phase 4) and 13 million in Crisis (IPC Phase 3). A significant amount of Humanitarian Food Assistance (HFA) was provided, easing the food crisis for the most affected households. However, Afghanistan’s food security situation remains highly concerning, exacerbated by economic decline and high food prices. With 38% of the population targeted for HFA, nearly 20 million people, representing half the country's population, are still experiencing high and critical levels of acute food insecurity (IPC Phases 3 and above) between March and May 2022. Among these, about 6.6 million people are classified in Emergency (IPC Phase 4), characterized by large food gaps and/or employing emergency coping strategies to access food. For the first time since the introduction of IPC in Afghanistan, Catastrophe conditions (IPC Phase 5) were detected for 20,000 people in the province of Ghor, one of the most remote, vulnerable provinces of Afghanistan and immediate action is needed to prevent further deterioration."

 

World Food Programme, WFP Afghanistan: Situation Report, 6 May 2022

"22.8 million people – half of the population – are projected to be acutely food insecure in 2022, including 8.7 million at risk of famine-like conditions. 4.7 million children, pregnant and lactating women at risk of acute malnutrition in 2022. All 34 provinces are facing crisis or emergency levels of acute food insecurity. Joint Assessment Teams are on the ground in 11 provinces to determine the need for emergency response, following flash floods that killed at least 22 people and destroyed hundreds of homes. WFP has already dispatched food assistance for 50 affected households in Bamyan."

 

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Afghanistan Collective Feedback Digest - A compilation of community voices - Issue 6, 5 May 2022

"People expressed many of the same needs as in earlier months, including food, cash and shelter. Reports that some community leaders and Taliban de facto authorities are telling aid recipients they must share assistance they received, or who are directly giving it to family and associates not on eligibility lists, continues to be a top feedback topic."

 

Khaama, According to the UN, 97 percent of Afghans are now battling food shortages, 5 May 2022

"After the prior government collapsed and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) took control in August, millions of Afghans are now facing severe food shortages. According to the United Nations, food shortages affect 97 percent of Afghans."

"Nearly 20 million people in Afghanistan – almost half of the country’s population – are facing acute hunger,

 

World Food Programme, Afghanistan: La Niña looms large over Afghanistan as one-third of Afghan population acutely food insecure today, 4 May 2022

"One-in-three Afghans are acutely food insecure, according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) assessment report released by the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and its partners. According to the IPC report, food insecurity in Afghanistan is attributed to the lingering impact of COVID- 19, armed conflict, a jump in food prices, high unemployment rates and income loss, and the start of the complex and recurrent La Niña weather event. While the Government prepares its response to an impending drought, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warn that current resourcing is inadequate to protect lives and livelihoods at risk. Reinforced support from the Government of Afghanistan and the international community since the previous IPC analysis (November 2020) partially explains overall improvement compared to previous projections, factoring in “minimum assistance based on the plans available at that time”. However, there exist significant funding gaps for humanitarian agencies pose a challenge in meeting even the most basic humanitarian needs in the coming months. While the onset of the summer harvest may bring employment and improve access to food, the report warns the harvest is expected to be “below average” and the “food security situation is expected to deteriorate further during the 2021-2022 lean season”. A further deterioration of the food security context will push more people to join one third of the population already food insecure. Monitoring prevailing food insecurity conditions will be critical, as will conducting a mid-year review of the IPC to gain a deeper understanding of the situation, adjust the response operations and prevent the situation from further worsening. La Niña drought-like effects are already evident in Afghanistan, according to FAO. Early evidence of agricultural drought has been found in 25 hotspots across the country. This weather event is expected to severely affect both agricultural and livestock production in 2021.

According to FAO estimates, wheat production decreased by 16 to 27 percent in the last five drought events induced by La Niña; the potential impact on livestock production of this year’s event is expected to affect 30 percent of ruminants in 18 provinces."

 

Integrated Food Security Phase Classification / Global Network Against Food Crises / Food Security Information Network, 2022 GLOBAL REPORT ON FOOD CRISES, 4 May 2022

"Afghanistan - Numbers have risen since 2020. The number of people in Crisis or worse (IPC Phase 3 or above) increased from 16.9 million in the November 2020–March 2021 lean season to 22.8 million a year later, reflecting worsening food insecurity as well as the use of higher population estimates for the October 2021 analysis. The number of people in Emergency (IPC Phase 4) increased by 58 percent to 8.7 million (IPC, November 2020 and October 2021). The 55 percent share of the population in Crisis or worse (IPC Phase 3 or above) in November 2021–March 2022 is the highest estimated by an IPC analysis in the country. The next highest was during the November 2018–February 2019 lean season (47 percent) largely due to the consequences of drought and conflict (IPC, November 2019). Urban acute food insecurity also worsened due to growing unemployment, falling incomes and rising food prices. From November 2021–March 2022, around 5 million people in 11 cities, including 3 million in Kabul, were expected to face Crisis or worse (IPC Phase 3 or above) (IPC, November 2020 and October 2021).

Following years of protracted conflict, the August 2021 political transition to the Taliban prompted a halt to development assistance and freezing of national economic assets. Coupled with severe drought and the economic impact of COVID-19, these factors propelled steep increases in staple food prices, losses of income for many households, and cash shortages. Conflict-related displacement, drought and economic instability will continue to fuel widespread Emergency (IPC Phase 4) outcomes in Afghanistan in 2022."

 

Afghan Voice Agency (AVA), Saudi food baskets distributed to deserving households, 27 April 2022

“Afghan Voice Agency (AVA)_Tbe food baskets benefited 1,140 households as part of the Feeding Initiative for the

1443 Hijri year, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Tuesday.

As part of the project, the report said, 18,600 food baskets would be delivered in Afghanistan to benefit 111,600

individuals.”

 

Afghan Voice Agency (AVA), WFP Distributes Cash, Food Assistance to over 10K Families in Six Provinces, 26 April

2022

“The United Nations World Food Program in a series of Twitter posts announced that they have distributed food assistance and cash in Kabul, Kandahar, Kunar, Farah, Herat, and Faryab provinces this month.”

 

ToloNews, Families Cannot Afford Food in Ramadan: Save the Children, 25 April 2022

“Save the Children reported that many Afghan families and their children are only surviving on bread and water

this Ramadan as the cost of food has doubled across Afghanistan.”

 

BBC News, Struggling to survive in cash-starved Afghanistan, 21 April 2022

“Those grants have stopped since the Taliban came to power, though humanitarian aid has continued, and around

$9bn (£7bn) of Afghanistan's foreign reserves have been frozen, leading to a shortage of both funds and physical cash in the country.

A report from the World Bank last week warned that more than a third of the population was now no longer able

to meet basic food needs.”

 

ToloNews, World Bank to Push Ahead with Some Afghan Projects, 20 April 2022

“It said around 37% of Afghan households did not have enough money to cover food while 33% could afford food but nothing more. The World Bank has resumed work on three projects in Afghanistan focused on health, agriculture and livelihoods, but will maintain a hold on some $150 million for education projects, two sources familiar with the decision said Tuesday. The multilateral development bank had put all four projects, valued at around $600 million, on hold in late March, citing its deep concerns over the Islamic Emirate's ban on girls

attending public high school.”

 

Afghan Voice Agency (AVA), 95 Percent of the People in Afghanistan Faces Food Insecurity, Says OCHA, 19 April 2022

“OCHA reports that millions of people in Afghanistan face an unprecedented food and malnutrition crisis. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has once again voiced its deep concerns over the in Afghanistan.As reported by , 95 percent of people in Afghanistan are struggling with insecurity in the country. According to OCHA, millions of people in Afghanistan are facing an unprecedented food and malnutrition crisis, adding the world must not forget the people of Afghanistan. Hunger in Afghanistan have risen sharply since the Taliban came to power. Yesterday, a man in set himself on fire in front of his four-year-old child due to

poverty.”

 

Afghan Voice Agency (AVA), Wheat Imports Down 20% Since August, 19 April 2022

“The Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment (ACCI) said wheat imports have dropped by 20 percent since the political change last August. ACCI said Afghanistan imports between 1.5 to 2 million tons of wheat annually, and most of the is imported from.”

 

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Gandhara, Afghan Farmers Fear For Livelihoods As Taliban Bans Opium, 14 April 2022

“Standing in his blooming poppy field in Garni, an impoverished village on the outskirts of the provincial capital, Tarin Kowt, Jan is upset by the Taliban's decision this month to ban poppy cultivation. He says he will be unable to feed his wife and their eight children if the Taliban prevents him from planting a poppy crop this fall.”

 

DTM, Afghanistan — Emergency Event Tracking — Summary Brief: Coping Mechanisms in Response to Food Shortages (Rounds 1 and 2), 14 April 2022

“Most CFPs [Community focal points] reported that people within their communities were relying on less preferred and less expensive food in order to cope with food shortages (91% in Round 1 and 94% in Round 2).CFPs also frequently reported that people within their communities were borrowing food and relying on help from friends and relatives or were borrowing money, albeit the share of reports of these coping mechanisms slightly decreased

between the two rounds. Between Round 1 and Round 2 the share of CFPs who reported child/female labour, child marriage, and selling body organs as coping mechanisms to access food increased from 47 per cent to 55 per cent, from 9 per cent to 11 per cent and from 1 per cent to 3 percent respectively.”

 

Afghanistan Analysts Network (Ali Mohammad Sabawoon), Crops not Watered, Fruit Rotting: Kandahar’s agriculture hit by war, drought and closed customs gates, 7 April 2022

“The Taleban takeover of Afghanistan brought an end to the fighting, but many farmers are still struggling to cope with the heavy losses sustained in 2021 and wonder how they will manage to plant and bring in a harvest in the coming year [...]

“Samiullah also said that farmers were also hedging their bets by planting opium poppies. Poppy cultivation has increased in Panjwayi this year, he said, because farmers were hoping that more water for their fields would mean a strong poppy harvest. They also think that an anticipated ban on opium cultivation by the Taleban, as they did when they were last in power in the 1990s, would increase market price and profits. In a Kabul press conference on 17 August, their first since they took power, Taleban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said: “From now on, Afghanistan will be a narcotics-free country but it needs international assistance.” […]

“As anticipated, an official ban on opium cultivation was decreed by the Taleban on 3 April 2022.”

WFP, WFP Afghanistan Situation Report, 4 April 2022

“22.8 million people – half of the population – are projected to be acutely food insecure in 2022, including 8.7 million at risk of famine-like conditions.

4.7 million children, pregnant and lactating women at risk of acute malnutrition in 2022. All 34 provinces are facing crisis or emergency levels of acute food insecurity […]

95 percent of the population continues to face inadequate food consumption, as household income levels and opportunities continued to decline. More than 85 percent of households previously earning income reported no

income earned at all during the month of February […] Currently 23 million people are acutely food insecure (IPC 3 and 4).”

 

WFP, Afghanistan Annual Country Report 2021, 31 March 2022

“After August Afghanistan became the world’s largest humanitarian crisis with 24.4 million people 58 percent of the population in need of humanitarian assistance by the end of the year. The recurrent and successive shocks the people of Afghanistan have faced were exacerbated by unprecedented levels of conflict, the worst drought in decades and a severe economic crisis. The main driver of the rise in humanitarian needs is an unprecedented increase in acute food insecurity since records began, with 23 million people 55 percent of the population estimated to be facing Emergency or Crisis levels of food insecurity, including nine million people one step away

from famine […]

In response to the sharp deterioration in food security, WFP significantly scaled-up operations, providing life- saving food and nutrition assistance to 15 million people (51 percent female and 49 percent male). The number of people assisted monthly increased more than fivefold between August and December 2021, with 7.9 million people assisted in December compared to 1.5 million people assisted in August.”

 

UNOCHA, Humanitarian Donors Urged To Step Up Again For Afghanistan, 31 March 2022

“Afghanistan is trapped in a humanitarian crisis with 23 million people facing acute food insecurity […]

Years of conflict have caused prolonged suffering in Afghanistan. Now the country faces economic collapse and its worst drought in 30 years, creating unprecedented levels of need. Aid organizations warn that while emergency

response is necessary, it is not enough to meet the totality of needs in Afghanistan […]

More than 24 million people – or 60 per cent of the population - need humanitarian assistance to survive. Needs are 30 per cent higher than last year and acute hunger is a daily reality for half the population. Basic health, education and other services are severely strained, livelihoods have been crushed and households are spending 80 per cent of their meagre income on food.”

UNOCHA, Martin Griffiths, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator

Martin Griffiths’ opening remarks at the High-level Pledging Event for Afghanistan, 31 March 2022

“In Kabul I visited the Indira Gandhi Hospital and saw severely malnourished children and new-borns clinging to life, sharing rundown, rickety incubators. These babies were emaciated, listless and far too small. And mind you, this is in downtown Kabul, not out in rural and poorer areas of this country […]

I met another woman who was trying her best to keep her three-month-old baby alive. She told us that she had already lost two of her children to starvation.

Hospital staff told me that three babies had already died the day we visited in that ward of about 20.”

 

Aljazeera, In Afghanistan, ‘people selling babies, young girls to survive’, 31 March 2022

“23 million Afghans facing starvation, in what has become a hunger crisis of “unparalleled proportions”, according

to Dr Ramiz Alakbarov, deputy special representative of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

“In Afghanistan, a staggering 95 percent of the population is not eating enough food … It is a figure so high that it is almost inconceivable. Yet, devastatingly, it is the harsh reality,” Alakbarov said in a statement issued in early March, adding that almost 100 percent of women-led households were experiencing hunger.”

 

UNICEF, Afghanistan Humanitarian Situation Report Report #3 1-28 February 2022, 22 March 2022

“UNICEF estimates 3.2 million children in Afghanistan will suffer from acute malnutrition in 2022, and a million severely malnourished children are at risk of death, if immediate action is not taken. […] During the reporting period [1-28 February 2022], more than 31,000 children were treated for severe acute malnutrition (SAM)

following the screening of nearly one million children. […]UNICEF estimates that 3.2 million children in Afghanistan will suffer from acute malnutrition in 2022 […]. The nutrition situation is further compounded by the signficant rise in measles cases.”

 

The UN, Afghanistan: Food insecurity and malnutrition threaten ‘an entire generation’, 15 March 2022

“Acute hunger in the country rose from 14 million in July, to 23 million in March, forcing households to resort to “desperate measures” to put food on the table.” “Unacceptable trade-offs have caused untold suffering, reduced the quality, quantity, and diversity of food available, led to high levels of wasting in children, and other harmful

impacts on the physical and mental wellbeing of women, men, and children.” “A staggering 95 per cent of Afghans

are not getting enough to eat, with that number rising to almost 100 percent in female-headed

households.”“Acute malnutrition rates in 28 out of 34 provinces are high with more than 3.5 million children in need of nutrition treatment.” “He explained that since mid-August, over 2,500 nutrition treatment sites across all 34 provinces, both urban and rural, have been serving 800,000 acutely malnourished children, “and we plan to

reach 3.2 million affected children this year”.

 

TOLO News, Kabul Residents Complain of High Food Prices, 13 March 2022 “The

 

Chamber of Craftsman and Shopkeepers said Ukraine tensions are affecting prices.The price of food materials has increased

in the international market since the war in Ukraine began, so its negative impacts hit Afghanistan as well,” said

Abdul Haq Omari, head of the chamber.”

 

IOM (DTM), Afghanistan - Baseline Mobility and Community Based Needs Assessment (November-December 2021), 11 March 2022

“On average, older individuals eat fewer meals per day than children do.”

 

WFP, With EU funding, WFP continues ramping up school feeding programme for Afghan children, 10 March 2022 “Driven by the impact of the economic crisis, decades of conflict, and drought, food insecurity in Afghanistan continues deteriorating. Over half of all Afghan people – 23 million – need emergency food assistance. So far this year, WFP has provided nearly 13 million people with life-saving food and nutrition aid. In 2021, WFP reached 15 million people.”

Prospect Magazine, The Families Losing their Loved Ones to Hunger Suicide in Afghanistan, 9 March 2022

“There is no exact figure for how many people have died because of hunger. The Taliban now has control over the Afghan media and many of the journalists who were covering these issues have been tortured. The international media is largely limited to Kabul, so tragedies in the provinces go unreported. A senior doctor at Wazir Akbar Khan Hospital in central Kabul—who spoke on the condition of anonymity—says reports of suicide had tripled since last August. He estimates that three or four people have been dying daily of hunger suicides increasing from an average of 20 per month last year to between 100 and 120 per month.”

 

WFP, WFP Afghanistan: Situation Report 02 March 2022, 4 March 2022

“22.8 million people – half of the population – are projected to be acutely food insecure in 2022,1 including 8.7 million at risk of famine-like conditions

4.7 million children, pregnant and lactating women at risk of acute malnutrition in 2022 All 34 provinces are facing crisis or emergency levels of acute food insecurity […]

Almost 100 percent of female-headed households are facing insufficient food consumption. Female-headed households are more likely to employ crisis-level coping strategies than male-headed households. […]

More than half of Afghanistan’s population, or 22.8 million people, are acutely food insecure, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report, while more than 24.4 people are in need of humanitarian support. A total 8.7 million people are just one step away from experiencing famine-like conditions.”

 

The Guardian, Afghanistan six months after the Taliban takeover- photo essay, 4 March 2022

“[...] last week Joe Biden announced that $3.5bn of frozen Afghan funds – including the private savings of ordinary Afghans – would be distributed to 9/11 victims, even though not a single Afghan was involved in the attacks. […] The United Nations says at least half a million Afghans have lost their jobs since the Taliban takeover, and estimates that by mid-year up to 97% of people could be living below the poverty line. The majority of development aid – funding almost 80% of the previous government’s expenditure – has ceased, throwing the

country into economic crisis. […]

At a Kabul maternity clinic, a newborn boy lies abandoned. “His family doesn’t have the money to take care of another child,” said [L], one of the hospital’s doctors.”

 

IOM, CBNA R14 — Afghanistan — Community-Based Needs Assessment: Summary Results (November—December 2021), 2 March 2022

“Due to food insecurity and low access to markets, Afghans rely on eating less preferred foods and eat cereals almost every day of the week (5.6 and 6.7 days of the week respectively, on average). Lack of water for agriculture due to drought is the biggest barrier to food production nationwide. In the three months prior to this assessment, 98% of communities reported the price of cooking oil, rice, flour, and fuel increased. As a consequence, families result to coping mechanisms such as consuming less nutritious foods, borrowing money to buy food, limiting

portion sizes and, in the most severe cases, skipping meals.”

 

Jurist, Afghanistan dispatch: ‘95 percent of Afghans do not have enough to eat,’ 22 February 2022

“According to the World Food Program, 95 percent of Afghans do not have enough food to eat. In a tweet on Saturday, the UN World Food Program warned that hunger in Afghanistan is on the rise, with 95 percent of the people going hungry. According to the World Food Program, out of every ten income-generating families, the income of eight families plummeted substantially in January, with the most affected families in Kabul. The World Food Program has also stated that many people went through the winter without any income and were forced to face challenges in the cold, according to their data.”

 

Ariana News, 95% of people in Afghanistan do not have enough to eat: WFP, 21 February 2022

“The United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) says 95 percent of people in Afghanistan “do not have enough

to eat,” and that “hunger continues rising in Afghanistan”. On Saturday [19 February 2022], the WFP Asia Pacific warned on its official Twitter account that in January, “8 in 10 income-earning households experienced a significant decrease in income, with Kabul hit the hardest. Worse still, some were forced to brave the cold month with no income at all.”

 

TOLO News, Kabul Woman Hauls Goods by Wheelbarrow to Support Family, 19 February 2022

“[...] the World Food Programme raises alarms that around 95 percent of the Afghan population is facing

starvation.” Struggling with a deteriorated economy, a woman in capital Kabul is carrying goods from markets to residences with a wheelbarrow to earn money in a bid to make ends meet for her family. Sosan, whose husband has been missing for more than one year, is now taking care of her five children alone. “I go from this square to another to find a market. I carry people's materials with a wheelbarrow to their residences,” she said. She said that her three children are extremely ill, but she is unable to treat them. “My kids are sick. One of them has mental problems. Another one was severely ill, I thought he might be infected by chickenpox. My third son has a problem with his tongue,” Sosan said. “Hunger continues rising in Afghanistan. 95% of the population don't have enough to eat,” the WFP Asia said on Twitter. In Jan., 8 in 10 income-earning households experienced a significant decrease in income, with Kabul hit the hardest. Worse still, some were forced to brave the cold month with no income at all.””

 

Save the Children, Afghanistan: a fifth of starving families sending children to work as incomes plummet in past six months, 14 February 2022

“Up to one fifth of families in Afghanistan have been forced to send their children out to work as incomes have plummeted in the past six months with an estimated one million children now engaged in child labour,according to new Save the Children research. “A survey of 1,400 households across seven provinces of Afghanistan found that 82% of Afghans have lost income since the collapse of the former government and transition of power last August, with 18% reporting they had no choice but to send their children out to work. “According to Save the Children’s analysis, if just one child in each of these families is being sent to work, then more than one million children in the country are engaged in child labour. “More than 80% of those surveyed reported a loss of income, with a third (34.8%) having lost all of their household income, and a quarter (26.6%) having lost more than half. Families living in cities were hit hardest, with half of families in Kabul saying they had lost their entire income. “The huge spike in prices caused by the economic crisis has left many families unable to afford food. About 36% of families reported that they are purchasing food in the market on credit, whereas 24% said they did previously. Thirty-nine percent are borrowing food from better-off families, compared to just 25% previously. “As families sink further into debt and poverty, 7.5% said they were begging or relying on charity to feed their families.”

 

Khaama Press, EU to deliver Є500 million to Afghan people, 16 February 2022

“Special representative of European Union for Afghanistan Thomas Niklasson said that they remain committed to Afghan people adding that the Union will deliver up to Є500 million to address the humanitarian situation of the Afghan people.

Thomas Kilasson in a Twitter post on Tuesday, February 15 said that with the money, they will focus on food, health, education, and other relevant parts.

“The EU remains committed to the Afghan people and is delivering 500 million euros in assistance through UN and NGOs focusing on food, health, WASH and protection, education and livelihood.” Reads the Twitter post.

The announcement comes after the Taliban delegation held negotiations with European representatives in Doha. Tomas Niklasson said that the two delegations agreed to continue the dialogue through physical and virtual meetings. The EU talks about the 500 million Euros at a time when the UN and UK have agreed to hold a virtual summit on the humanitarian situation of Afghanistan next month.”

 

Ariana News, Britain to co-host Afghanistan aid summit, hoping to raise $4.4 billion, 16 February 2022

“Britain said on Tuesday it would co-host an international aid conference with the United Nations next month to help alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, where poverty and hunger have spiraled since late last year.

The virtual pledging conference will aim to help the United Nations raise $4.4 billion for Afghanistan, the largest amount it has ever requested for a single country.

Most foreign aid was cut off after the former government collapsed and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) came in to power in August last. The United Nations estimates 98% of Afghans are not eating enough and hospitals and schools cannot afford to pay staff.

“The scale of need is unparalleled, and consequences of inaction will be devastating,” Foreign Secretary Liz Truss

said in a statement.

“The UK is determined to lead the global effort. We will bring international allies together to raise vital aid to

deliver food, shelter and health services, protect women and girls and support stability in the region.”

A combination of the loss of foreign aid, a severe drought, and a currency crisis have left Afghanistan’s economy on the brink of collapse with food prices rising rapidly and causing widespread hunger, Reuters reported.

The donor conference comes as the international community continues to grapple with how to help Afghanistan without benefiting the country’s rulers.”

 

The New Humanitarian, Afghanistan’s crises, by the numbers, 15 February 2022

“Food: Prices are rising amid cash shortages

A severe drought was already putting food security in peril regardless of who controlled Kabul. But the economic collapse that followed the Taliban takeover has pushed the country to the edge.

Food prices are soaring. More than half the population, or 22.8 million people, will face crisis or emergency levels of food insecurity – the most ever recorded in Afghanistan, according to recent estimates.

Wheat prices are up to 50 percent higher than just before the Taliban takeover, while work opportunities for daily labourers have dropped by a similar proportion, according to monitoring by the World Food Programme.

Inflation is high. Year-on-year inflation for basic household goods reached 40 percent in January, according to World Bank calculations.”

 

Gandhara News, Six Months And An Eternity: Afghans Lose Hope Under Taliban Rule, 15 February 2022 “Following a lightning military advance on Kabul, Taliban militants seized power on August 15. The hard-line Islamists celebrated their victory as the end of more than four decades of war in Afghanistan, and promised a new era of peace and prosperity.

But six months later, few in the country are content with their new rulers. More than a million Afghans have fled reprisals, persecution, and a worsening humanitarian and economic crisis. Some 23 million people, the majority of the country's population of 39 million, face starvation. More than 1 million children are in danger of dying by malnutrition. And despite an end to the fighting, 3.5 million Afghans remain internally displaced.

[...] Humanitarian Catastrophe

Mohammad Mansuri has been stranded in his village of Lolash for weeks because of heavy snowfall in the remote Kohistan district in the northern province of Faryab. The farmer says his family of six is starving, and he has no money to seek treatment for his two sick children.

He says that residents of Lolash and hundreds of other villages in Kohistan were already on the brink of starvation even before the Taliban takeover due to a drought that has lasted for three years.

"Without swift action to help us, we are very close to a humanitarian catastrophe," he told RFE/RL by telephone [...] Abdul Ahad, a 30-year-old farmer in Lolash, says that many in his village will not make it through the winter without immediate emergency aid. "It is like we are in prison with no way out," he told RFE/RL by phone. "The prices have simply skyrocketed."

Ahad says that a 10-liter container of cooking oil he used to buy for $5 now costs more than $20. Similarly, the prices of flour and sugar have soared. [...] "The deserving people are not getting anything," says Abdullah Khan, a resident of Baraki Barak, a district in the southeastern province of Logar, which abuts the capital, Kabul.”

 

AVA Press, India’s wheat delivery to Afghanistan through Pakistan to begin in days, 15 February 2022

“INDIA TODAY has cited its sources as saying India’s 50,000 tonnes of wheat shipment to Afghanistan via Pakistan

to begin as soon as next week. In the meantime, diplomatic sources have also confirmed that hurdles in shipping

the 50,000 metric tonnes of wheat and medicines have now been removed and India has handed over a list of trucks and contractors to Pakistan. Based on the bilateral agreement between Pakistan and India, the latter must complete the first batch of the consignment in 30 days through Waga port. The decision over the allowance of

India’s humanitarian aid to Afghanistan through Pakistan comes after India and WFP signed a memorandum of understanding over the wheat. Initially, Pakistan wanted to allow the shipment to Kabul in Pakistani trucks bearing UN banner but India proposed Afghan trucks and drivers that were then endorsed by Pakistan. The agreement by Pakistan took more than one month. The distribution of food grains in Afghanistan comes as the country is going through the worst humanitarian situation in its history with 97 percent of the population being under the line of poverty.”

 

Save the Children, Afghanistan: A fifth of starving families sending children to work as incomes plummet in past six months 14 February 2022

“Up to one fifth of families in Afghanistan have been forced to send their children out to work as incomes have plummeted in the past six months with an estimated one million children now engaged in child labour, according to new Save the Children research.”

Save the Children’s Country Director in Afghanistan, Chris Nyamandi, said: “I’ve never seen anything like the desperate situation we have here in Afghanistan. We treat frighteningly ill children every day who haven’t eaten anything except bread for months. Parents are having to make impossible decisions – which of their children do they feed? Do they send their children to work or let them starve? These are excruciating choices that no parent should have to make. “[…]” “There is no shortage of food here - the markets are full. Yet children are starving to death because their parents can’t afford to pay for food. This could, and should, have been prevented. But it is not too late to prevent further tragedy if we act now.”Save the children is providing families with urgent cash assistance and winter kits with essential items to get them through the winter. Cash assistance helps to prevent families from resorting to desperate measures that adversely affect children such as child labour, early marriage and reduced meals. Since September 2021, Save the Children has reached 763,000 people, including 430,800

children, and provided more than 127,000 people with multi purposes cash transfers and cash for food.”

 

AVA Press, Iran’s 18th consignment of humanitarian aids arrives in Afghanistan, 14 February 2022

“Iran’s embassy in Kabul announced that the country’s 18th consignment of humanitarian aid consists of cooking oil, flour, and rice arrived in Ghazni province on Monday, February 14, 2022.

Afghan Voice Agency (AVA)_The Kabul-based embassy in a series of Twitter posts said that they have so far delivered aid to people in need in ten provinces namely , Balkh, , Kandahar, Kabul, , Kunduz, and Panjshir. The aid comes a day after announced that the people have collected $1 million to for aid in Afghanistan.”

AVA press, 2nd aid train on its way from Turkey to Afghanistan, 13 February 2022

“A second train with 921 tonnes of emergency assistance has left Turkey for Afghanistan, says a media report. Afghan Voice Agency (AVA)_The first , carrying 750 tonnes of emergency items, chugged into western province on February 8.According to ANI news agency, the 45-wagon train will arrive in Afghanistan after passing through Iran and Turkmenistan.”

 

AVA Press, Pak-Afghan forum hands over 310 tons of emergency aid, 10 February 2022

“The Pak-Afghan Cooperation Forum has handed over 310 tons of food and winter aid to Afghan Authorities amid the worsening humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.

Twenty-two trucks carrying the aid arrived at crossing on Monday, the forum said Tuesday.

Done in collaboration with Hands International, this aid will bring relief to thousands of Afghans who are dealing with a severe shortage of amid the ongoing economic crisis.”

 

WFP Afghanistan, Situation Report, 10 February 2022

“In Numbers:

● 22.8 million people – half of the population – are projected to be acutely food insecure in 2022, including

8.7 million at risk of famine-like conditions

● 4.7 million children, pregnant and lactating women at risk of acute malnutrition in 2022

● All 34 provinces are facing crisis or emergency levels of acute food insecurity

More than half of Afghanistan’s population face crisis (IPC Phase 3) or emergency (IPC Phase 4) levels of food insecurity, according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report. This is the highest number of acutely food insecure people ever recorded in Afghanistan and is among the highest levels of acute food insecurity globally.

Harsh winter conditions, including freezing temperatures and heavy snowfall, continues to impede the timely delivery of humanitarian assistance across the country.”

 

Tolo, UNICEF in Afghanistan: 1M Children May Die Unless Action Taken, 9 February 2022

“The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Afghanistan warned that one million Afghan children could die

from severe acute malnutrition if “urgent” actions were not taken. Despite the rising numbers of children affected

by malnutrition, the Ministry of Public Health said no malnutrition care centers are active in Afghanistan.”

 

Humanitarian Response of United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Climate,

Peace and Security Fact Sheet Afghanistan, 9 February 2022

“Afghanistan is highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change: rising temperatures, changing precipitation patterns and increasingly frequent extreme weather events. Currently, Afghanistan is experiencing its worst drought in 27 years, which, compounded with COVID-19 and the economic contraction that followed the takeover of the government by the Taliban in August 2021, has significantly increased livelihood and food insecurity and contributed to a growing humanitarian emergency.

 

● Climate change exacerbates the deteriorating conditions for agriculture-based livelihoods and food insecurity.

● Conflict and the effects of climate change have increased internal displacement and changed migration patterns. High levels of displacement accentuate food and livelihood insecurity and increase the vulnerability of marginalised groups, including women.

● The effects of climate change may heighten the risk of more frequent and intense local conflicts over land and water and increase tensions over transboundary resources.

● Conflict has eroded the resilience of communities and local authorities to adapt to climate change and to deal with the current humanitarian crisis. This creates opportunities for elites to manipulate and profit

from land and water disputes, with elevated risks for marginalised groups.”

Humanitarian Response (Afghanistan) United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), Afghanistan: Countrywide Weekly Market Practice Bulletin, Issue 90 (Covering first week of February 2022) 07 February 2022, 8 February 2022

“Highlights

 

• In the first week of February 2022, the prices of food items were significantly higher than the last week of June ( before the recent conflicts and political change).

 

• The average price of wheat, Wheat flour, cooking oil and Sugar significantly decreased this week compared to fourth week of January 2022, as the US dollar has depreciated against Afghani and the prices of food and non-food items have fallen down. Now, with the strengthening and stabilizing of the Afghani, the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment has issued a statement urging traders and sellers to reduce prices.

 

• Both casual labour/wheat and pastoralist ToT significantly improved by 7.3% and 8.4%, respectfully as price of

wheat decreased and negligibly labour wage and sheep price increased.

• The USD value devaluation by 11.6% in the 1st week of February compared to 4th week of January 2022. The USD value after drastic increase in the 2nd week of December, slightly decreased in the 3rd week and again negligibly increased in the fourth of December 2021, first, second and third weeks of January 2022 and decreased in the fourth week of January followed by decreased value this week (92.2 AFN/1 USD). The reason for such devaluation of USD against AFN is increase USD supply to the market and AFN shortfall.”

 

United Nations OFfice for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Daily Noon Briefing Highlights:

Madagascar, Afghanistan, Yemen, 7 February 2022

“Between 2 and 3 February, more than 123,000 families received food assistance in 10 provinces in the country

[Parwan, Kapisa, Takhar, Badakhshan, Baghlan, Samangan, Sar-e-Pul, Jawzjan, Balkh and Laghman].”

 

The Guardian (Afghanistan), ‘Living hell': Australia urged to ramp up Afghanistan aid as humanitarian crisis unfolds

| Australian foreign policy, 2 February 2022

“Children in Afghanistan are rummaging through bins looking for plastic to sell while women sit in the middle of busy roads begging for food, spurring fresh calls for the Australian government to ramp up assistance to the poverty-hit country. Fiona McSheehy, an aid worker [and the acting country director for Afghanistan at Save the Children] currently based in Afghanistan, told Australian senators on Wednesday she had witnessed “desperately heartbreaking” scenes over the past three months, as humanitarian groups warn of rising poverty and famine. [...] “I’ve been here for about three months. Since I arrived, I have seen the number of children on the street increase dramatically. You see them rooting through things like rubbish bins to try to find things that they can then sell –

plastic and things like that. “We see them lined up in streets begging as people try to get to the airport, and they’re selling face masks one by one – that’s how desperate they are for an income.” McSheehy, who has also travelled to some of the provinces, said during her time in Afghanistan she had seen “more poverty and more desperation”. “Every now again you’ll see a woman and her children just sitting in the middle of the road begging for food and money, while cars and lorries drive either side of them. It is desperately heartbreaking,” she said. McSheehy also told the hearing that each morning the streets of Kabul were lined with men sitting in wheelbarrows waiting for a day of work. She said if she went back three hours later, most of those men were still there waiting – because there was no work. That meant it was hard for parents to feed their children, she told the Senate’s foreign affairs, defence and trade references committee, which is continuing its inquiry into Australia’s engagement in

Afghanistan.”

 

Ariana News, Desperate Afghans selling kidneys and children to feed their families, 29 January 2022

“Afghan parents are selling their children and their kidneys in order to buy food for their families amid an ongoing humanitarian crisis in the country. [...] the kidney transplant center in Herat told Ariana News that more than 200 people have visited the center to sell their kidneys in the past five years.”

 

Deutsche Welle, Afghanistan: People in a ′horrific′ situation, WFP chief David Beasley tells DW, 28 January 2022 “Millions of people in Afghanistan are facing a dire situation as they struggle to cover their basic needs, David Beasley, the executive director of the UN's World Food Program (WFP), told DW's Giulia Saudelli. "Afghanistan was already one of the poorest countries in the world, with 20 years, at least, of conflict with the Taliban," said Beasley. "And now what we're facing is catastrophic. The number of people that literally are knocking on starvation's door is 23 million people out of 40 million people."

 

The Wall Street Journal, As Hunger Spreads in Afghanistan, Hospitals Fill With Premature, Dying Babies, 28 January 2022

“The Wardak provincial hospital’s director in Maidan Shahr, Muhammad Nadir Rahmani, said the hospital is seeing the birth weight of babies reduce alarmingly, as the bodies of malnourished mothers are unable to carry their children to full term. Babies born weighing under 1 kilogram, or about 2.2 pounds, have no better than a 30% chance of survival, he said. [...] Meanwhile, food prices have soared. Since June, the price of wheat flour jumped

snow has blanketed the country, so there is a daily quest to find something to burn in the stove, for cooking and

warmth. Unable to afford to buy wood, Mr. Muhammad forages for bushes in the nearby hills. [...]”

 

ToloNews, Faced With Starvation, Afghans Sell Kidneys, 28 January 2022

“A number of families in the western province of Herat are being forced to sell their kidneys amid dire poverty and starvation. The families who live in the Injil district of Herat say that they have been forced to sell their kidneys on the black market for little money due to poverty and hardship in order to survive. [...] Among those who have been selling their kidneys are children and women. According to the law of the country, selling organs or parts are the body is not lawful, but these families say that they have no other options to survive. “We are happy, the security

situation is good, but prices are a bit high in the country,” said a resident of Herat.”

 

Gandhara, Afghan Children Starving To Death As Hunger 'Rapidly Spreading', 28 January 2022

“Graana walked for more than two hours to seek treatment for her starving 2-year-old son at a hospital in

Afghanistan’s southern province of Helmand. "My son couldn't walk because he was so weak,” the mother of five told RFE/RL's Radio Azadi. “Hunger had disfigured him to the extent that he started to look scary. I was hopeless." After weeks of treatment at Boost Hospital, which is supported by Doctors Without Borders, the Geneva-based charity, Graana’s son is in stable condition. But he is among the lucky few who has received treatment. Millions of Afghan children are suffering from severe malnourishment as hunger sweeps across Afghanistan, which has been gripped by a devastating humanitarian and economic crisis since the Taliban seized power in August. [...] The United Nations has warned that nearly 23 million people -- about 55 percent of the population -- are facing extreme levels of hunger. Children are bearing the brunt of the crisis, with 14 million at risk of starvation this winter, the UN said. Foreign aid workers and Afghan medical staff estimate that dozens of children, mostly under the age of 5, are dying of starvation every week across the country. [...] Mohammad Daud Nusrat, the head of the pediatrics department at Boost Hospital, says he has witnessed a steep increase in the number of severely malnourished children being brought in for treatment. “Compared to the past year, malnourishment among

children under 5 is spreading,” he told Radio Azadi, adding that the hospital treated 630 last month, compared to 380 in December 2020. Sam Mort, a spokeswoman for UNICEF, the UN's children's agency, told RFE/RL that the

organization was “deeply concerned about the rapidly escalating malnutrition crisis across Afghanistan.” Mort said

1.1 million children under the age of 5 were in danger of dying from severe acute malnutrition. Another 3.2 million children, she said, were at risk of the malnutrition. The UN defines severe acute malnutrition as a condition in which children suffer from stunting or impaired growth and severe weight loss. "When I travel around the country, and I talk to nutrition counselors, doctors, and hospital directors, they are all recording a rise in the cases of severe acute malnutrition," said Mort, who is based in Kabul. She says doctors around the country are witnessing premature births and other complications associated with insufficient food intake. Afghanistan currently has one of the world's highest rates of arrested growth, according to UNICEF. Around 40 percent of Afghan children under 5 suffer from stunting. Wasting, defined as low weight for height, is visible in nearly 10 percent of all Afghan

children. “The malnutrition rates are doubling week on week,” Mary-Ellen McGroarty, Afghanistan director for the UN World Food Program, recently told the Washington Post. “Emaciated children are coming into the hospitals.

I’ve never experienced how quickly it’s deteriorated.””

 

World Food Programme, ‘Our presence is hope’: Call for funds as winter spells hunger for Afghanistan, 25 January 2022

“Around 23 million people – half the population – are food insecure, with 8.7 million people at risk of starvation. They are at IPC4 – the ‘emergency’ level on the global standard for measuring food insecurity, only one step away from ‘catastrophe’.

[Shelley Thakral, the WFP’s communications chief in Afghanistan]

“There are power cuts every day and families have little or no money for food and fuel,” says Thakral. “Mothers

tell us they are forced to decide who gets to eat and who doesn’t – often they themselves will miss meals to make sure there is something for their children.” [...]

53%, cooking oil is up by 39% and sugar by 36%, according to the U.N.’s World Food Program. With winter, heavy

 

[Dr Qadir Assemy, the WFP’s head of office in Herat]

WFP’s has a well-oiled a fleet of 171 trucks that manage to transport food across all of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces. However, “the most important element is missing,” says Assemy – funds to make sure WFP can scale up as it must in 2022. [...]

“Every dollar we cannot raise means a child, a mother will go hungry, and someone is forced to choose who gets food and who doesn’t. If our efforts are supported, we can avoid the worst-case scenario come spring. But we don’t have a minute to waste.” Assemy, a trained physician, adds: “I haven’t seen anything this bad in my life, and

I’ve worked with humanitarian organizations on and off for the last 20 years.” [...] A hallmark of the current crisis is how it is affecting middle class people in urban centres. With salaries unpaid and many, especially women, forced out of their jobs, people’s savings are being depleted, inching them closer to the brink. For the first time this urban class of hungry people – from civil servants to teachers – are now standing in line for food and cash assistance.

WFP and partners make ongoing household assessments of who needs emergency food supplies – this activity is growing as more and more people who used to have incomes now have nothing. Assemy says people from all walks of life approach him for help in the street – from university professors to people who hang around markets in the hope that someone might buy them a loaf of bread.”

 

UNHCR, Afghanistan situation: Emergency preparedness and response in Iran, 23 January 2022

“On 13 January, describing a “nightmare unfolding in Afghanistan”, the United Nations’ Secretary-General, António Guterres, warned that the world is “in a race against time to help the Afghan people." (Link) The UN Chief said the size of the appeal launched on 11 January “reflects the scale of the despair.” He added that there are “babies being sold to feed their siblings. Freezing health facilities overflowing with malnourished children. People burning their possessions to keep warm.” Currently, more than half the population depends on life-saving assistance but without a more concerted effort from the international community, Mr. Guterres stated that “virtually every man, woman and child in Afghanistan could face acute poverty.”

 

Insider, Impoverished Afghan women are receiving emergency aid in crypto as the Taliban limits cash withdrawals and millions go hungry, 23 January 2022

“Afghanistan's economic collapse due to US sanctions and a shortage of cash as the Taliban chokes of bank withdrawals means millions of people can't afford to buy food or medicine. But Fereshteh Forough, a New Hampshire-based Afghan social activist and founder of Code to Inspire, has devised an inventive workaround to help support needy students at her Herat coding school. She's sending them cryptocurrency.”

 

Global Shelter Cluster (Afghanistan), Afghanistan - Joint Winterization Plan 2021-22, 20 January 2022

“Winter in Afghanistan is also a peak hunger period as it provides very limited opportunities to food production and income generation more so with the drought currently experience in the country. FSAC [Food Security and Agriculture Cluster] assessment projected the period from June to November 2021, the total population in IPC [Integrated Phase Classification] Phase 3 (Crisis) and IPC Phase 4 (Emergency) is expected to decrease to 9.5 million, with 6.7 million people in Crisis and 2.7 million in Emergency. Moving from harvest towards winter, household’s good stocks will get depleting. According to pre-lean season assessment, on average, households’ harvest last only 5 months meaning that majority of the households will not have food to feed them during winter. Agriculture has traditionally dominated Afghanistan’s economy and contributed for a large part to its growth.

About 70 percent of Afghans live and work in rural areas, mostly on farms, and 61 percent of all households derive income from agriculture. From November most of the pastures are covered with snow and green fodder availability is compromised. Small farmers exhaust their production during the post-harvest summer and early winter month. Lack of agriculture interventions and demand of labor in the agriculture sector reduces significantly during the same period. Livestock production is a major source of income and food for Afghan farmers and their families. For some, such as the Kuchi nomads, animals are the only source of income. In the June to September month period, shortages of fodder and grazing areas for livestock are likely to result in below-average livestock body condition and productivity. During the winter, livestock farmers mostly rely on limited low land pastures and crop residuals for livestock rearing. As consumption requirements for both human beings and livestock increases in

the winter season, prioritization of basic lifesaving food assistance and livestock protection activities is essential in enabling vulnerable households cope with the harsh weather conditions.”

 

Deutsche Welle, Is the world doing enough to help Afghans?, 18 January 2022

“The international community faces a dilemma on how to deal with the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in August.

The United States, which ended its two-decade presence in the country last year, does not want to legitimize or strengthen the Islamic fundamentalist group. Washington froze Afghanistan's assets after the Taliban captured Kabul, and despite repeated requests by the country's rulers, there is no sign that the sanctions will be lifted.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan is facing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis and needs immediate financial help. [...] But aid alone would probably not be enough to help Afghans, who are facing acute hunger combined with a severe drought and the coronavirus pandemic. Millions of Afghans are currently jobless, and their bank accounts are frozen.

Many Afghans are selling possessions to buy food, and urban communities are facing food insecurity on levels similar to rural areas for the first time.

About 8.7 million people are "one step away from starvation," Mary-Ellen McGroarty, head of the World Food Programme in Afghanistan, said in October.”

 

Al Jazeera, Taliban seeks greater role in distribution of Afghan foreign aid, 13 January 2022

“An abrupt withdrawal of foreign aid last year following a hasty exit by the United States and the Taliban’s victory in August left Afghanistan’s fragile economy on the brink of collapse, with food prices rising rapidly, causing widespread hunger. Western sanctions aimed at the Taliban also prevented the passage of basic supplies of food and medicine, although this has since eased after exemptions were passed by the UN Security Council and the US in December.”

 

United Nations, UN chief: We are in a race against time to help the Afghan people, 13 January 2022

“Currently, more than half the population of Afghanistan depends on life-saving assistance.

Without a more concerted effort from the international community, Mr. Guterres argued, “virtually every man, woman and child in Afghanistan could face acute poverty.”

 

World Food Programme, WFP Afghanistan Situation Report, 12 January 2022

“95 percent of the population had insufficient food consumption in December 2021. (...)

More than half of the population face crisis (IPC Phase 3) or emergency (IPC Phase 4) levels of food insecurity, according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report. This is the highest number of acutely food insecure people ever recorded in Afghanistan and is among the highest levels of acute food insecurity globally.”

 

Al Jazeera, US to give additional $308m in humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, 11 January 2022

“The United States will donate an extra $308m in humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, the White House has announced, bringing the total of US aid for Afghanistan and Afghan refugees in the region to nearly $782m since October. The aid will be channelled through the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to humanitarian organisations providing shelter, healthcare, and emergency food aid, among other services, White House spokesperson Emily Horne said in a statement on Tuesday [11 January 2022]”.

 

Qantara, Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis: End the economic blockade, 11 January 2022

“Even before the Taliban returned to power last August, Afghanistan topped the global roster of humanitarian emergencies. Successive droughts and escalating conflict had left one-third of the country’s population facing acute food insecurity. Aid agencies warned that they were in a race against time as winter approached. Now, the United Kingdom’s Disasters Emergency Committee believes that the race is close to being lost.

The numbers are harrowing. Some 23 million people in a country of 39 million are in a state of humanitarian emergency. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates that over one million Afghan children are at risk of dying from malnutrition and hunger-related disease.”

 

The Week, Millions in Afghanistan are facing extreme hunger, 7 January 2022

“It's been a dire winter in Afghanistan, with 23 million people facing extreme levels of hunger amid the brutal cold. “Shelley Thakral, spokeswoman for the World Food Program in Afghanistan, told NPR that there are several reasons why so many Afghans don't have enough food to eat. The country is experiencing its worst drought in decades, food prices have gone up, and the Taliban government takeover last August triggered an economic crisis. Many people who are now out of work because of the new government, including teachers and construction workers, are experiencing food insecurity for the first time. "There's a new urban class of hungry people," Thakral said.”

 

The New Yorker, Afghanistan has become the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, 5 January 2022

“A month after the Biden Administration pulled U.S forces out of Afghanistan, only seventeen per cent of the

country’s more than twenty-three hundred health clinics were functional. Doctors in the hospital in Kabul told me that they hadn’t been paid since the Taliban seized power, in August, and that medicine is in short supply. The new government is struggling to feed the country’s thirty-nine million people, and the chance that an Afghan baby will go hungry and die is the highest in twenty years. Half of the country’s population needs humanitarian assistance to survive, double the number from 2020. More than twenty million people are on the brink of famine. The United Nations Development Programme projects that by the middle of this year Afghanistan could face “universal poverty,” with ninety-seven per cent of Afghans living below the World Bank-designated international poverty line of $1.90 a day.”

 

NPR, Parents selling children shows desperation in Afghanistan, 31 December 2021

“Aziz Gul's husband sold the 10-year-old girl into marriage without telling his wife, taking a down-payment so he could feed his family of five children. Without that money, he told her, they would all starve. He had to sacrifice one to save the rest.

“Many of Afghanistan's growing number of destitute people are making desperate decisions such as these as their

nation spirals into a vortex of poverty.

“The aid-dependent country's economy was already teetering when the Taliban seized power in mid-August amid a chaotic withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops. The international community froze Afghanistan's assets abroad and halted all funding, unwilling to work with a Taliban government given its reputation for brutality during its previous rule 20 years ago.”

 

The Guardian, ‘On the brink’: drought and politis leave Afghans fighting famine, 30 December 2021

“Hunger is stalking Afghanistan, caused by a devastating confluence of political and environmental crises. The UN estimates that only 2% of the population are getting enough to eat.

“The Taliban victory brought an overnight end to foreign aid that had propped up the economy of the fallen republic for 20 years. In the countryside, where more than two-thirds of Afghans live, the worst drought in 30 years had already left farmers destitute and desperate.”

 

The Gazette, ‘2021 has been catastrophic’: Food insecurity rising in Afghanistan, 24 December 2021

“Tens of millions of Afghans do not have access to food, and that number is expected to increase during the winter

months as the economic situation exacerbates the crisis.

“Roughly 22.8 million Afghans, more than half the country's population, are expected to face "acute food insecurity" from last month through March 2022, according to projections from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification. That would mark a 35% increase from the same time period a year earlier. It would also be the highest ever for the country, with 8.7 million people facing emergency-level food insecurity.”

AP News, Changing climate parches Afghanistan, exacerbating poverty, 23 December 2021

““I remember from my childhood ... there was a lot of snow in the winters, in spring we had a lot of rain,” said 53- year-old Abdul Ghani, a local community leader in the village of Sang-e-Atash, in the hard-struck province of Badghis.

““But since a few years ago there has been drought, there is no snow, there is much less rain. It is not even possible to get one bowl of water from drainpipes to use,” he said, as he observed the Red Crescent Society handing out emergency winter food supplies to farmers whose crops have completely failed.”

 

OCHA, Afghanistan Countrywide Weekly Market Price Bulletin, Covering Fourth week of December 2021

● In the week 4 of December 2021, the prices of food items were significantly higher than the last week of June ( before the recent conflicts and political change).

● The average price of all food items except wheat grain, negligibly decreased in the 4th week, after it peak price in 3rd week of Dec 2021, mainly due to exchange rate fluctuations.

● Average weekly price of diesel negligibly decreased by 0.7% and reached 77.4 AFN/L, due to exchange

rate fluctuations. • Work opportunities slightly improved by 2.4% compared to last week.

● Both casual labour/wheat and pastoralist/wheat ToT negligibly improved by 0.3% and 0.9%, respectively due to changes in price of wheat and negligibly increase in price of sheep.

● Exchange rate (USD to AFN) after drastic increase in the 2nd week of December, slightly decreased in the 3rd week and again negligibly increased this week and reached 103.2 AFN/USD and still lack of cash (USD) in markets & Banks and high demand for it exists in the market.

 

Save the Children, Hunger and Heartbreak - Why we must act now to support Afghanistan’s children, 19 December 2021

“Without enough money to feed their children, they gave up one of the newborn twins to a childless couple.”

[...]

“The family was displaced from their farm about seven months ago due to prolonged drought, which has devastated crops contributed to pushing millions to the brink of famine. It has been difficult for Mohammad to find work for even a couple of days a week.”

[...]

““We need help, we are hungry and poor,” said Mohammad. “There are no work opportunities in Afghanistan. We only have bread for the children which is not always available.”

[...]

“2021 has been a desperate year for Afghanistan’s children. But now, widespread hunger and the onset of freezing

winter weather are making things even worse. Over the next three months, 1 million children are at risk of dying

from malnutrition.”

 

Ariana News, Number of Afghan children without enough food rises to 3.3 million, 18 December 2021

“According to data from UN World Food Programme (WFP), as of the end of November, 98% of the population do not have enough to eat — an alarming jump from 81% before 15 August. Afghanistan is facing its worst food crisis on record. This winter, 14 million children are expected to face potentially life-threatening levels of hunger, and

rates of malnutrition are soaring. With Afghanistan’s aid-dependent healthcare system on the brink of collapse, Save the Children warned that many severely malnourished children are unable to access the specialist treatment they need to survive.”

 

OCHA, Afghanistan Humanitarian Needs and Planned Response 2022, 16 December 2021

“In 2022, 24.4 million people in Afghanistan are projected to be in humanitarian need, up by over 30 percent since the start of 2021, and amounting to over 55 percent of the entire population. The main driver of this need is a massive increase in acute food insecurity, with almost 23 million people are projected to be facing acute food insecurity. Food insecurity and the potential collapse of basic health systems services would leave 1.1 million acutely malnourished children under the age of five years without access to treatment services and up to 131,000

children could die in the course of the year if no action is taken.”

 

Development and Cooperation, Afghanistan faces the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, 16 December 2021

Afghanistan is on the brink of the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophe, the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) warns. According to the WFP, the country’s food crisis currently looks worse than what is happening in Ethiopia, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

This alarming assessment is based on the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report. It was issued in October in a joint effort of the WFP and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The authors state that in September and October 2021, nearly 19 million people in Afghanistan experienced high levels of acute food insecurity. They expect this number to rise to 22.8 million in the months November 2021 to March 2022. More than half of the country’s people thus face hunger – including 3.2 million children under five, many of whom will suffer acute malnutrition by the end of this year. People all over the country are affected, including in urban areas.

Afghanistan has experienced two severe droughts in four years. The current impact on crops and livestock is significant. Food prices are rising fast. The country’s economy depended heavily on foreign aid before the Taliban seized power in Summer 2021, and things have been deteriorating since. Public services have collapsed, and so has the financial system. Unemployment is getting worse, and Covid-19 has exacerbated all other problems.

One year ago, Afghanistan already had 3.5 million internally displaced persons (IDP). They are a particularly vulnerable group. The UN reckons that at least 660,000 more people were displaced in the months January to September this year. (One of the many Afghans that fled their country is a journalist who currently lives in Cologne, Germany. Read his story on our D+C/E+Z platform)

The WFP has so far provided emergency aid to around four million Afghans in September and plans to feed nine million in December. It needs more funding, however, and is thus calling on the international community to scale up humanitarian assistance and to resume food trade with Afghanistan. WFP´s Executive Director David Beasley: “This winter, millions of Afghans will be forced to choose between migration and starvation unless we can step up our life-saving assistance, and unless the economy can be resuscitated.”

 

Qantara, Can the Taliban avert a food crisis without foreign aid?, 16 December 2021

“The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) are warning of a surge in the number of starving people in Afghanistan. According to one estimate, 18.8 million people are currently suffering from hunger every day, FAO representative in the Afghan capital Kabul, Richard Trenchard, said on 11 November.

That number could rise to 22.8 million by the end of the year, including more than three million children under the age of five. They urgently need aid: food, drinking water, medical care and decent shelter in winter. The total population of Afghanistan is around 39 million.”

 

Ariana News, Price of naan bread in Afghanistan doubles, 14 December 2021

Afghanistan’s Chamber of Craftsmen and Shopkeepers said Tuesday that the price of an average naan bread

weighing 200 grams has doubled, from 10 Afghanis (AFN) to 20 AFN on the back of rising food prices. [...]

“When we go to the bazar, they ask for dollars, because the AFG has lost its value. Selling and buying is done in

dollars, said Gull Mohammad, a shopkeeper.

“People need flour, rice, oil and other necessary materials, customers are coming, but they can’t afford to buy anything,” said Obaidullah, another shopkeeper.

 

Reuters, Afghans face “avalanche of hunger and destitution” - UN agency, 14 December 2021

Almost all Afghans do not have enough to eat and a failing economy could tip Afghanistan's increasingly dire situation under Taliban rule into catastrophe next year, the U.N.'s World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday.

WFP surveys showed an estimated 98% of Afghans are not eating enough, with seven in 10 families resorting to borrowing food, which pushes them deeper into poverty, a spokesperson for the agency told reporters.

[...]

"The spiralling economic crisis, the conflict and drought has meant the average family can now barely cope," Tomson Phiri told a Geneva briefing. "We have a huge amount to do to stop this crisis from becoming a catastrophe."

 

Ariana News, WFP survey finds about 98% of Afghans not getting enough food, 14 December 2021

Almost all Afghans do not have enough to eat and a failing economy could tip Afghanistan’s increasingly dire situation under Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) rule into catastrophe next year, the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday.

A WFP survey found an estimated 98% of Afghans are not eating enough food, with seven in 10 families resorting to borrowing food, which pushes them deeper into poverty[.]

 

TOLO News, ICG warns of mass starvation in Afghanistan, 9 December 2021

“The International Crisis Group (ICG) in a newly published report said that if the international community does not scale up economic support, more Afghans may die of hunger and starvation in the current crisis than from the fighting in the past 20 years.

“Hunger and destitution following the Taliban’s takeover of the country seem poised to kill more Afghans than all the bombs and bullets of the past two decades,” the report reads.”

Khaama Press, “Kidney for sale”, reads a placard stuck on a tree in Kabul, 8 December 2021

“From selling houses, home furniture, and equipment to selling daughters and now parts of the body, all tell the

world the most bitter and unpleasant story of Afghanistan and its people.

With millions of people laid off, no work and no business, unprecedented prices of food ingredients and fuel, and the cold winter season of Afghanistan have made people do everything to earn money so that they feed families and heat houses.

UN has lately estimated that during the winter this year, over 24 million people of Afghanistan will starve and

three million malnourished children will be on the brink of starvation.”

 

UNICEF, Humanitarian Action for Children 2022 Overview, 6 December 2021

“Almost 23 million people will experience acute food insecurity from November 2021 until March 2022 and 1.1 million children are at risk of death due to severe acute malnutrition in 2021.”

 

WFP, Afghanistan: World Food Programme calls for funds as children face ‘hunger and starvation’, 3 December 2021

“The World Food Programme (WFP) is in a “race against time” to avert a humanitarian catastrophe in Afghanistan,

its executive director David Beasley has warned.

A total 22.8 million people, more than half the population, face acute hunger as temperatures plummet below zero.

“What’s happening in Afghanistan is just horrific,” said Beasley, who has just visited. “I met families with no jobs, no cash and no food, mothers who sold one child to feed another, and the lucky children who made it to the hospital. The world cannot turn its back as the Afghan people starve.”

With more than 682,000 people displaced by drought, the economic crisis and conflict, WFP is calling for US$2.6 billion in 2022 to provide life-saving support and work towards long-term resilience.

In addition to food assistance, cash grants from WFP empower people to buy food, complementing its efforts to boost the resilience of communities through activities such as providing training in agricultural techniques and irrigation projects.

Humanitarian needs have tripled, according to the organization, whose fleet of 170 trucks criss-cross the country,

delivering nutritious food to remote villages and urban areas alike.”

The Tribune, Pakistan agrees to let India transport wheat, life-saving drugs to Afghanistan on Afghan trucks: Foreign Office, 3 December 2021

According to UN figures from early November, almost 24 million people in Afghanistan, around 60 per cent of the population, suffer from acute hunger. That includes 8.7 million living in near-famine. Increasing numbers of malnourished children have filled hospital wards.

 

Business Standard, Afghanistan continues to face economic hardships under the Taliban, 3 December 2021

“Nine out of ten Afghan families are already unable to obtain sufficient food stocks and over 1 million children could face malnutrition and even death by starvation with further scares of the outbreak of diseases like measles and polio throughout the population, it added.”

 

OCHA, Global Humanitarian Overview 2022 (Part Two), 2 December 2021

“In Afghanistan, more than 24 million people require life-saving assistance to prevent catastrophe. This represents a dramatic increase in needs, driven by a combination of conflict, COVID-19, political turmoil, recurrent economic shocks and the worst drought in 27 years. [...]

A staggering 22.8 million people, or 55 per cent of the population, are expected to be in crisis or emergency levels of food insecurity (IPC 3+), a nearly 35 per cent increase from the same period last year. Some 9 million people are projected to be in IPC 4 – the highest number in the world. More than half of all children under 5 years of age are now expected to be acutely malnourished in 2022, a 21 per cent increase since the start of 2021. Twenty-seven out of 34 provinces are seeing acute malnutrition rising above emergency thresholds.

In rural areas, needs are largely driven by drought – the worst of its kind in 27 years – and the cumulative effects of over four decades of conflict. Even after the harvest, 57 per cent of households did not have food reserves that would last for three months. In urban areas, severe economic shocks and resulting income loss have contributed to the rapid deterioration in people’s food security and livelihoods status. Ten out of 11 most densely populated

urban areas are anticipated to be in IPC 4. In 2021, all population groups had a negative net income.”

 

BBC, ‘It’s like hell in here’: The struggle to save Afghanistan's starving babies, 2 December 2021

Afghanistan was already reeling from severe drought and decades of conflict, but the Taliban's takeover hastened the country's descent towards economic collapse. The slowing trickle of international aid, which propped up the economy and its health system for decades, came to a grinding halt in August. Western donors cited serious concerns in moving money through a government which denies basic rights to women and girls, and threatens harsh Sharia punishments. This means Afghanistan is facing its worst hunger crisis since records began, according to the latest UN figures. About 14m children are expected to suffer acute levels of malnutrition this winter.

 

CNN, The rescue of Parwana: 9-year-old child bride is taken to safety in Afghanistan, 2 December 2021

“Afghanistan's economic lifelines have been severed since mid-August when the Taliban assumed control after American and allied forces departed. Billions of dollars in central bank assets have been frozen, banks are running out of cash and wages have gone unpaid for months.

Now, aid agencies and rights groups including Human Rights Watch are warning that the country's poorest people are facing a famine as the brutally cold winter takes hold.More than half of the country's roughly 39 million population will face emergency levels of acute hunger by March, according to a recent report by IPC, which assesses food insecurity. The report estimates that more than 3 million children under the age of five are already suffering acute malnutrition.

"The international community is turning its back as the country teeters on the precipice of man-made catastrophe," said Dominik Stillhart, director of operations for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), who just returned from a six-day visit to Afghanistan.”

 

US News, Aid Official: Afghanistan's Crises Get 'Progressively Worse', 2 December 2021

“According to U.N. figures from early November, almost 24 million people in Afghanistan, around 60% percent of the population, suffer from acute hunger. That includes 8.7 million living in near- famine. Increasing numbers of malnourished children have filled hospital wards.

Afghanistan has been suffering from its worst drought in decades since last year, hitting 80% of the country. The drought has reduced crops and wrecked incomes for farming families, driving many to leave their villages. More than 700,000 people were displaced from their homes this year, whether by fighting or drought, adding to the ranks of some 3.5 million displaced from past years of fighting.”

 

WFP Afghanistan, Situation Report, 2 December 2021

“In Numbers

22.8 million people – half of the population -- will face acute food insecurity from November 20211 including 8.7 million at risk of famine-like conditions

3.2 million children and 700,000 pregnant and lactating women at risk of acute malnutrition All 34 provinces are facing crisis or emergency levels of acute food insecurity.

Situation Update

Snowfall has been reported in several provinces where families depend on humanitarian assistance to survive the freezing winter months.

More than half of the population face crisis (IPC Phase 3) or emergency (IPC Phase 4) levels of acute food insecurity from November 2021 to March 2022, according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report. This is the highest number of acutely food insecure people ever recorded in Afghanistan and is among the highest levels of acute food insecurity worldwide.

An alarming 98 percent of Afghans are facing insufficient food consumption, according to WFP’s latest surveys.

This is a substantial increase of 17 percentage points compared to early August.4

The situation is especially alarming for children under five, half of whom are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition (3.2 million). Acute malnutrition is above emergency thresholds in 27 of 34 provinces and is rapidly worsening.

For the first time, urban residents are suffering from food insecurity at similar rates to rural communities, marking

the shifting face of hunger in the country. Rising fuel and food prices are further exacerbating the situation.”

 

United Nations, WFP appeals for greater support for Afghanistan as hunger increases, 1 December 2021 “Humanitarian needs in the country have increased, the UN agency said, with all 34 provinces facing crisis or emergency levels of food insecurity. As a result, some 23 million Afghans require urgent food assistance, a figure never seen before. This includes more than three million children who are at risk of severe hunger and the life- threatening consequences of malnutrition.”

 

DTM, DTM: EMERGENCY EVENT TRACKING, 29 November 2021

“CFPs were also asked to rank their community’s most urgent needs. Cash and food were identified as the first priority needs, which aligns with reported community shocks in the past month. These include reduced income (94%), loss of employment (96%) and food price increase (95%) (see below). Drinking water and immediate healthcare were second and third priority needs, which is reflected in the reported risk of displacement due to water insecurity (55%) and the majority of communities without a health clinic or hospital (69%).”

 

OCHA, Afghanistan: Weekly Humanitarian Update (15-21 November 2021), 27 November 2021

“A total of 30,989 vulnerable and food insecure people were identified to receive humanitarian aid in Badakhshan, Baghlan, Kunduz and Takhar provinces. Some 35,399 vulnerable families (approximately 247,793 people) received food as part of WFP’s seasonal assistance programme in Badakshan, Baghlan, Kunduz and Takhar provinces. In addition, 11,788 internal returnees received humanitarian assistance across the North-east.”

 

Operational Data portal, UNHCR) (Afghanistan), Afghanistan situation: Emergency preparedness and response in Iran, 25 November 2021

“On 17 November, the World Food Program (WFP) stated that 22.8 million Afghans – half of the population - will face acute food insecurity from November 2021, including 8.7 million at risk of faminelike conditions. This is the highest number of acutely food insecure people ever recorded in Afghanistan and is among the highest levels of acute food insecurity worldwide. WFP also reported that the situation for children is increasingly alarming, with half of all children under five (3.2 million) are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition. The UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan, Deborah Lyons, has warned that the country “is on the brink of catastrophe”. “

 

Care, Afghan families making horrific choices so they can put food on the table, 22 November 2021

“What’s it like in Afghanistan for millions of people right now? This is what it’s like. They go to bed hungry. They wake up hungry. Everyone in the house wakes up hungry. There’s less and less to feed them. The winter is setting in. Growing food is impossible. Buying food is getting harder, as prices have skyrocketed. [...]

“Almost 23 million people - more than half the population of Afghanistan - are facing acute hunger this winter.

That’s the equivalent of almost every single person in Australia being hungry almost all the time.” [...]

Many parents in Afghanistan are being forced to make the most horrific choices to keep their family members alive, and it’s usually the girls who suffer the consequences. We have seen the reports of baby girls being sold so families have money to buy food. Young girls are being married off so there is one less mouth to feed.

 

UN News, Afghanistan’s farmers, herders desperate for seed, food and cash, 19 November 2021

“The UN agency said that 18.8 million Afghans are unable to feed themselves every day, and that this number is set to rise to nearly 23 million by the end of the year. What started as a drought crisis has spiralled into economic disaster, with nine in 10 major urban centres also expected to face extreme hardship, as debts pile up and savings dwindle. Worryingly, the already widespread drought looks set to worsen in Afghanistan, as farmers and herders brace for a likely second consecutive year of drought in 2022, with La Niña expected to bring drier than normal conditions to Afghanistan in the coming months. This situation will create a very real famine risk in 2022, unless immediate large-scale support to protect these people and their livelihoods arrives very soon, Food and

Agricultural Organisation warned.”

The Hill, UN Envoy says Afghanistan on the brink of humanitarian catastrophe, 17 November 2021

“The United Nations envoy for Afghanistan on Wednesday said the country is on the brink of "humanitarian catastrophe," pointing to food scarcity and the country's crumbling economy, and warned that extremism could arise due to current conditions.

During a press conference, Deborah Lyons said she told the U.N. Security Council that the regional and global community must continue helping Afghanistan as it heads into the winter, where pressing issues could lead to "terrible loss of life."”

 

UNITED STATES INSTITUTE OF PEACE, Key to Afghan Relief Efforts: Financial Engineering for Private Sector, Economy, 17 November 2021

The country is already facing a double-digit decline in GDP, rising prices of food and other necessities, and increasing unemployment, poverty, hunger and potential starvation. But if nothing is done the situation will get even worse, especially with the approach of winter.

In the absence of action, major parts of the Afghan economy will remain in free-fall and the urban sector will completely collapse. As a result, hunger and privation will increase further, already large humanitarian aid needs will multiply, and millions of desperate Afghans will be forced to try to leave the country.

 

GANDHARA NEWS, ‘No Water And Nothing To Eat’: Afghans Suffer Extreme Shocks From Global Climate Change, 16 November 2021

““Due to the drought, we had to leave our farm,” Qudratullah tells RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi. “We had no other income. Our field became barren and the crops we had planted were destroyed. We had no water and nothing to eat.”

“There is nothing left of my cattle,” he says. “I had to sell them off. Even if we had one or two left, the situation is so bad that we couldn’t have kept them.”[...]

The former farmer says many people in the area have moved to the district center.

“Hunger and thirst have forced people to leave their homes,” he says. “Children are starving. People have nothing to eat.”

Underscoring the acute climate conditions in Afghanistan, heavy floods have sometimes struck the same areas that are now grappling with severe drought. [...]

Climatologists predict that life for many of Afghanistan’s 38 million people is likely to resemble Qudratullah’s in the

coming years due to changing weather patterns they link to global warming. [...]

Radio Azadi has documented several cases in which impoverished residents of western Afghanistan have sold one

of their kidneys as an organ transplant to help their family survive.”

 

UNICEF, Afghanistan Humanitarian Situation Report, October 2021, 15 November 2021

“Between November 2021 and March 2022, further deterioration in food security is expected, with the number of people in need reaching 22.8 million. This marks a 37% increase in the number of Afghans facing acute hunger since the assessment issued in April 2021.

An estimated 30,000 children under-five suffering from severe acute malnutrition (SAM) were provided with lifesaving treatment services through mobile teams and Basic Package of Health Services (BPHS) health facilities across the country.”

 

 

QANTARA, Can the Taliban avert a food crisis without foreign aid?, 15 November 2021

“In view of the catastrophic supply situation in Afghanistan, UN authorities are sounding the alarm. Inflation and growing poverty are exacerbating the situation. The Taliban reportedly have an emergency programme to combat the crisis. [...]

No money for food

A few days ago, WFP Executive Director David Beasly named some of the reasons for the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan: sharply increased costs for fuel, food and fertilizers. At the same time, poverty is growing [...] "In the industrial area of Herat alone, 70 percent of the companies have gone out of business. There is no demand.

Purchasing power has dwindled tremendously. Civil servants and employees in the public sector hardly get paid." There is no chance of survival for smaller companies, such as silk manufactories or brickworks. The unemployment rate is rising every day, and with it the number of people who can no longer afford their daily bread.”

 

Khaama Press, One million children suffering from malnutrition in Afghanistan: officials, 15 November 2021

“Officials of the Ministry of Public Health of Afghanistan said that there are three million Afghan children suffering

from different diseases among them one million who are malnourished.

The officials also said that there are still 700,000 Afghan women who are suffering from malnutrition along with the children.

Deputy Minister of Public Health doctor Abdul Bari Omar who was briefing journalists about the ministry’s three- month achievements said that all the hospitals and clinics have been reopened and female health workers are back to their jobs.

“All big and small clinics have been reactivated and male and female health workers are asked to return to their

jobs so that they raise international aids.” Said Omar.

The Deputy Minister further said that they will soon launch capacity-building programs for male and female

doctors across the country.”

 

REUTERS, A million Afghan children at risk of dying amid acute malnutrition, WHO says, 12 November 2021

“Around 3.2 million children are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition in Afghanistan by the end of this year, with 1 million of them at risk of dying as temperatures drop, a World Health Organization spokesperson said on Friday.

Aid agencies have warned of famine as a drought coincides with a failing economy following the withdrawal of Western financial support in the aftermath of a Taliban takeover in August. The health sector has been hit especially hard, with many healthcare workers fleeing due to unpaid salaries. [...]

Measles cases are rising in the country and WHO data shows 24,000 clinical cases had so far been reported. "For malnourished children, measles is a death sentence. We will see so many more deaths if we don't move on this quickly”.”

 

HRW, Afghanistan Facing Famine, 11 November 2021

“The financial crisis has especially affected women and girls, who face disproportionally greater obstacles to obtaining food, health care, and financial resources. The Taliban bans that are keeping women from most paid jobs have hit households in which women were the main earners the hardest. Even in areas in which women are still allowed to work – such as education and health care – they may be unable to comply with Taliban requirements for a male family member to escort women to and from work. The media have increasingly reported of families selling their children – almost always girls – ostensibly for marriage, to obtain food or repay debts. [...]

Afghans in several provinces said that wages have nearly disappeared in most sectors, especially in urban areas, and that food prices are rapidly increasing. Some gave accounts of families selling their property or their children to pay traffickers so that they could flee the country.

“Farid,” a pseudonym, said he recently fled to Iran, but Iranian authorities detained and then deported him. He described seeing hundreds of families, many with small children, trying to leave the country with insufficient money, food, and clothing. He said that he now has no means to support his family or purchase food:

“We don’t have enough food … we only eat once a day. With the winter approaching, the situation can get even worse than this. The Afghan [Taliban] government doesn’t have any clear plan to fix the hunger issue, and I doubt if the international community has one. What I clearly see is that soon most Afghans will die just for not having food, and as always, no one will care.”

He said that traffickers are taking advantage of the situation by charging US$500 to $700 to smuggle people to Iran. “I also saw the bodies of people who have died in the deserts leading to the border,” he said. “I had to sell all I had to pay the traffickers.” [...]

She said that prices were increasing every day and that she expected people to die this winter:

“The winter is very cold, and people cannot heat their houses. No one works, especially women, and even those who used to work have not been paid yet. One neighbor told me yesterday that she doesn’t have anything in the house to feed the kids. Every night, she puts on her burqa and takes all her seven kids with her, and they go door- to-door to see if anyone will share their dinner with them. They only eat once a day if anybody gives them some food. One family offered to buy her one-year-old daughter for US$600, but she refused the request, as she wanted to keep her daughter.”

“This is the worst nightmare anyone in the world has ever imagined,” she said. “Sitara” described people foraging in already-harvested agricultural fields:

“One of the worst cases that I have witnessed in my life was seeing an old man with kids searching the potato fields hoping to find some remaining potatoes, to be able to feed themselves that night, although the crops had been harvested two months ago. If the Taliban and the international community don’t pay attention and do not help people, everybody will die.””

 

Kabul Now, Mother puts teenage daughter up for sale in Ghazni, 11 November 2021

“A woman who has four daughters has put her eldest one, a 13 years old girl, up for sale in the southern Ghazni province to provide a living for the rest of her family.

The woman’s name is Marzia and is living in Haidarabad neighborhood of Ghazni city, Mohammad Zaman Zaki, a local elder, told Kabul Now today, November 11. He added that the woman has announced this decision for two days now.

According to the local elder, the woman has decided to sell her daughter due to poverty and hunger they are suffering from. “This woman is selling her 13-year old daughter for 100,000 – 150,000 afghani in order to provide food for her other three daughters.”

Mr. Zaki added that the local residents are trying to provide food, money, and clothes for the family in a bid to prevent the girl from being sold for money.

In a video taken by Bashir Ahmad Islamzai, a local journalist, and sent to Kabul Now, the woman says she is not able to provide a living for her children. “I’m forced to sell one of my daughters in order to provide the living costs for her three siblings,” she says in the video.

While she is speaking to the camera, one of her child is repeatedly heard shouting for bread.

Years back the same girl had been put up for sale by her father – an addicted man to drugs – which caused her mother to divorce him but stopped her daughter to be sold.

The woman is an original resident of Jaghori district but moved along with her children to Ghazni city after

divorcing her husband.”

 

United States Institute of Peace, Winter is coming in Afghanistan. Are the Taliban ready?, 11 November 2021 “Nearly three months after the Taliban’s rapid takeover, Afghanistan is descending toward one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises with an economy in free-fall. As the harsh winter season looms, aid agencies have warned that over half the country’s population — a staggering 22.8 million people — will face acute food

insecurity, including 3.2 million children under five. Now in power, the Taliban’s failure to deliver basic services is exacerbating this dire humanitarian situation. But immediate relief is a distant prospect as the Taliban deliberate on how to govern the country and the international community mulls over how to engage and pressure the fledgling government.

With internal divisions leading to jockeying for power and a severe dearth of technical capacity, the Taliban are ill- equipped to address these challenges. [...]

Meanwhile, everyday Afghans are living in increasingly inhumane, squalid conditions and confronting an uncertain

future. “The majority of people I know want to flee Afghanistan,” said Naheed Farid, an elected member of parliament from Herat Province. “They want to leave because they don’t see a future for themselves and their family.”

 

WFP, Afghanistan Situation Report, 10 November 2021

“In Numbers 22.8 million people – half of the population -- will face acute food insecurity from November 20211

3.2 million children and 700,000 pregnant and lactating women at risk of acute malnutrition All 34 provinces are facing crisis or emergency levels of acute food insecurity.

Situation Update

• More than half of the population will be facing crisis (IPC Phase 3) or emergency (IPC Phase 4) levels of acute food insecurity through the November 2021 to March 2022 lean season, according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report.

• This is the highest number of acutely food insecure people ever recorded in the ten years in which IPC analyses

have been conducted in Afghanistan. Afghanistan has one of the highest levels of acute food insecurity worldwide.

• The situation for children is especially alarming, with half of all children under five (3.2 million) expected to suffer from acute malnutrition. Acute malnutrition is above emergency thresholds in 27 of 34 provinces and is rapidly worsening.

• For the first time, urban residents are suffering from food insecurity at similar rates to rural communities,

marking the shifting face of hunger in the country.

• The report’s findings come as Afghanistan’s harsh winter looms, threatening to cut off areas of the country where families desperately depend on humanitarian assistance to survive the freezing winter months. • Poor families’ food stocks are expected to run out, and millions will be forced to choose between migration and starvation unless urgent action is taken.”

 

Al Jazeera, UN food agency: 45 million people on the edge of famine, 8 November 2021

“The United Nations food agency has said that the number of people on the edge of famine across 43 countries had risen to 45 million, as acute hunger spikes around the world.

The jump from 42 million people earlier in the year was largely down to a food security assessment that found

another three million people facing famine in Afghanistan, the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Monday. WFP said the cost of averting famine globally now stands at $7bn, up from $6.6bn earlier in the year, but warned that traditional funding streams were overstretched.

Families facing acute food insecurity are being “forced to make devastating choices”, marrying off children early,

pulling them out of school or feeding them locusts, wild leaves, or cactus.

Multiple droughts in Afghanistan were combining with an economic meltdown to push families to the edge, while some 12.4 million people in Syria do not know where their next meal will come from – more than any time during the decade-long conflict, it said.”

 

BBC, Afghans facing 'hell on earth' as winter looms, 8 November 2021

"Ninety-five percent of the people don't have enough food, and now we're looking at 23 million people marching towards starvation," he added. "The next six months are going to be catastrophic. It is going to be hell on Earth."

 

IPC, Afghanistan: Acute Food Insecurity Situation September - October 2021 and Projection for November 2021 -

March 2022, October 2021

“In September and October 2021 (the post-harvest season), nearly 19 million people in Afghanistan experienced high levels of acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 or above), an almost 30% increase from the same season last year (14.5 million people). The main drivers of acute food insecurity include drought and its impacts on crops and livestock, the collapse of public services, a severe economic crisis and increasing food prices. An estimated 6.8 million people in Emergency (IPC Phase 4) and 11.9 million people in Crisis (IPC Phase 3) require urgent action to save their lives, reduce food gaps and protect their livelihoods. Between November 2021 and March 2022 (the winter lean season), a further deterioration in food security is expected, with the number of people in IPC Phase 3 or above increasing to 22.8 million, a nearly 35% increase from the same season last year (16.9m). Out of 22.8 million people, 14 million will likely be in Crisis (IPC Phase 3) and 8.7 million in Emergency (IPC Phase 4). The number of areas in Emergency is expected to significantly increase in the projection analysis period from 21 to 32 analytical domains. It is likely that household food access between the end of winter and the following spring season will further deteriorate due to: the continuing La Niña climatic episode bringing below-average winter precipitation for the second consecutive year, the impact of high food prices, sanctions on the de facto authorities, growing unemployment and possibly increased displacement. Reduced incomes, lower international and domestic remittances and continuing obstacles to humanitarian assistance (many related to the financial crisis and limited physical access during the winter period) are expected to contribute to the deterioration of food security.”

 

AVA Press, Agricultural free fall in Afghanistan is part of U.S. war legacy, 27 October 2021

"Promises cannot feed people" were the words of the United Nations Food Program Executive Director David Beasley as he underlined the rapid, unfortunate and alarming decline of Afghanistan's agricultural sector after decades of war. While the byproducts of the 20-year U.S. war include massive poverty, malnutrition, widespread displacement, terrorism and unemployment, the backbone of the Afghan national economy which is the agricultural sector has also taken a massive blow.

Afghan Voice Agency (AVA)_With roughly 80 percent of Afghans relying on it for daily sustenance and livelihood, its rapid decline can be attributed to the prolongation of war in the country and sector's abandonment after the

U.S. troops' withdrawal in August.

As per assessments from the United Nations World and the Food and Agricultural Organization, Afghanistan is facing a starvation crisis, with approximately 45 percent of its population or 19 million people being at risk of high levels of food insecurity.”

 

Ariana News, Afghanistan on ‘countdown to catastrophe’ as winter looms, 26 October 2021

“This is the highest number of acutely food insecure people ever recorded by the UN, during 10 years of conducting IPC analyses in Afghanistan. And globally, the country is home to one of the largest number of people

facing acute hunger. “Hunger is rising and children are dying”, said WFP Executive Director David Beasley. “We can’t feed people on promises – funding commitments must turn into hard cash, and the international community must come together to address this crisis, which is fast spinning out of control”. Among those at risk are 3.2 million children under five, who are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition by the end of the year. Last month, WFP and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned that without immediate life-saving treatment, one million children risked dying from severe acute malnutrition. And for the first time, urban residents are suffering from food

insecurity at similar rates to rural communities. “Afghanistan is now among the world’s worst humanitarian crises – if not the worst – and food security has all but collapsed”, said the WFP chief.”

 

TOLO News, Afghans Struggle with High Prices of Essential Goods, 26 October 2021

“A number of residents speaking to TOLOnews complained about the high price of primary items in the markets,

saying they are concerned about providing food for their families.

According to the residents, the economic downturn and the high prices have worried them as winter approaches. “Domestic production is not enough, the prices are high because the goods are imported,” said Abdul Maroof, a shopkeeper.

Meanwhile, a number of farmers said that the recent drought has caused a serious decrease in yield compared to past years. They say this year’s drought is more severe than previous years, and the wells which were used to irrigate the farmlands have dried up. [...]

Droughts and political problems in the country are cited as the reason for an unprecedented rise in the price of

primary goods, mainly food, in the country.”

TOLO News, UN Urges World to Support Vulnerable Afghans, 26 October 2021

“[...] The World Food Program WFP said on Monday that more than half of Afghanistan’s population will face

starvation this winter unless urgent action is taken.

“Afghanistan is fighting a humanitarian crisis, the humanitarian organizations should urgently take steps and deliver their assistance to Afghanisan. The latest reports indicate that more than 22 million people face food insecurity,” said Wahidullah Amani, spokesman of WFP in Kabul.

Save the Children said that an unprecedented food crisis has left at least 14 million Afghan children hungry.

The statistics show a 35% increase in the number of people facing a food crisis compared with the same time last

year.”

 

WFP, Afghanistan set to be world’s worst humanitarian crisis, report warns, 25 October 2021

“Afghanistan is becoming the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, with needs surpassing those in Ethiopia, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen, according to figures released today.

With a harsh winter on its way, the latest IPC assessment (the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification), a global standard for assessing food insecurity, found 22.8 million people could face acute risk, while 8.7 million face emergency levels of hunger – a record in the ten years the UN has been conducting IPC analyses in the country. [...] Since the withdrawal of international forces in August, the fall of the Afghan government and the Taliban takeover, the country has been in freefall. Job losses, lack of cash and soaring prices have pushed the humanitarian crisis to a new high, creating a new class of hungry, the report said.

For the first time, urban residents are suffering from food insecurity at similar rates to rural communities, which have been ravaged by drought twice in the past three years. Across cities, towns and villages, virtually no family can afford sufficient food, according to recent WFP surveys. [...]

A crippling drought poses a further challenge to a political transition that has been met with international sanctions, and a financial and banking collapse. With COP26 kicking off in Glasgow on Friday (31 Oct), Bauer

highlights the effects of the “double-dip” of the La Niña climate phenomenon, which is causing the worst drought the country has seen in years. [...]

“People who used to be food-secure, people who live in urban areas, people who were part of the Afghan middle

class are now facing food insecurity because they're not being paid anymore, and they don't have access to their

savings anymore. If they don't have money, and they don't have food assistance, it’s going to be a long, dark winter.“

Due to a cash liquidity crisis, people are currently restricted to withdrawing US$200 a week. However, “in more remote locations the banks still don’t have cash, so they can’t even withdraw that,” said Hsiao-Wei Lee, WFP deputy country director in charge of operations for Afghanistan.”

 

WFP, Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), IPC ACUTE FOOD INSECURITY ANALYSIS September 2021 - March 2022, 25 October 2021

 

 

 

WFP, Half of Afghanistan's population face acute hunger as humanitarian needs grow to record levels, 25 October 2021

“More than half the population of Afghanistan – a record 22.8 million people - will face acute food insecurity from November, according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report issued today by the Food Security and Agriculture Cluster of Afghanistan, co-led by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN and the UN World Food Programme.

The combined impacts of drought, conflict, COVID-19 and the economic crisis, have severely affected lives, livelihoods, and people’s access to food. The report’s findings come as Afghanistan’s harsh winter looms, threatening to cut off areas of the country where families desperately depend on humanitarian assistance to survive the freezing winter months.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report has found that more than one in two Afghans will be facing crisis (IPC Phase 3) or emergency (IPC Phase 4) levels of acute food insecurity through the November 2021 to March 2022 lean season, requiring urgent humanitarian interventions to meet basic food needs, protect livelihoods and prevent a humanitarian catastrophe.

The report also notes that this is the highest number of acutely food insecure people ever recorded in the ten years the UN has been conducting IPC analyses in Afghanistan. Globally, Afghanistan is home to one of the largest number of people in acute food insecurity in both absolute and relative terms. [...]

“Afghanistan is now among the world’s worst humanitarian crises - if not the worst - and food security has all but collapsed. This winter, millions of Afghans will be forced to choose between migration and starvation unless we can step up our life-saving assistance, and unless the economy can be resuscitated. We are on a countdown to catastrophe and if we don’t act now, we will have a total disaster on our hands,” said David Beasley, WFP Executive Director. [...]

Hunger spreads from rural to urban areas

The IPC report reflects a 37 percent increase in the number of Afghans facing acute hunger since the last assessment issued in April 2021. Among those at risk are 3.2 million children under-five who are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition by the end of the year. In October, WFP and UNICEF warned that one million children were at risk of dying from severe acute malnutrition without immediate life-saving treatment.

For the first time, urban residents are suffering from food insecurity at similar rates to rural communities, marking the shifting face of hunger in the country. Rampant unemployment and the liquidity crisis mean that all major urban centres are projected to face Emergency (IPC Phase 4) levels of food insecurity, including formerly middle- class populations.

In rural areas, the severe impact of the second drought in four years continues to impact the livelihoods of 7.3

million people who rely on agriculture and livestock to survive.”

 

Reuters, 'Children are going to die', U.N. agency warns as Afghanistan verges on collapse, 25 October 2021

“Millions of Afghans, including children, could die of starvation unless urgent action is taken to pull Afghanistan back from the brink of collapse, a senior United Nations official warned, calling for frozen funds to be freed for humanitarian efforts.

World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director David Beasley told Reuters that 22.8 million people - more than half of Afghanistan's 39 million population - were facing acute food insecurity and "marching to starvation" compared to 14 million just two months ago. [...]

Afghanistan was plunged into crisis in August after Taliban fighters drove out a Western-backed government, prompting donors to hold back billions of dollars in assistance for the aid-dependent economy.

The food crisis, exacerbated by climate change, was dire in Afghanistan even before the takeover by the Taliban, whose new administration has been blocked from accessing assets held overseas as nations grapple with how to deal with the hardline Islamists. [...]

The U.N. food agency needs up to $220 million a month to partially feed the nearly 23 million vulnerable people as winter nears.

Many Afghans are selling possessions to buy food with the Taliban unable to pay wages to civil servants, and urban communities are facing food insecurity on levels similar to rural areas for the first time.”

 

The Guardian, ‘Countdown to catastrophe’: half of Afghans face hunger this winter – UN, 25 October 2021

“More than half of Afghanistan’s population is facing acute hunger as the country has been thrown into one of the world’s largest food crises.

Almost 23 million Afghans will be hungry due to conflict, drought and an economic downturn that is severely

affecting livelihoods and people’s access to food as a harsh winter looms, the UN has warned; an increase of nearly 35% compared with last year.

“Afghanistan is now among the world’s worst humanitarian crises – if not the worst – and food security has all but collapsed. This winter, millions of Afghans will be forced to choose between migration and starvation,” the World Food Programme’s executive director David Beasley said, adding that “we are on a countdown to catastrophe”.

The Taliban takeover in August has contributed to the economic upheaval as billions of dollars in foreign aid payments – 40% of the country’s gross domestic product – have ceased and almost $10bn (£7.3bn) of Afghan central bank assets have been frozen.

Half of all Afghans will be facing crisis or emergency levels of acute food insecurity between this November and March next year, the UN report said.

As desperation grows, the number of beggars throughout Afghanistan’s major cities – including children – has risen as urban residents, for the first time, suffer similar rates of food insecurity to rural communities; a shifting pattern of hunger in the country. [...]

Only 5% of households have enough to eat every day, the UN said. Many families who fled fighting before the Taliban takeover can’t afford to go back home, instead remaining in makeshift camps with no source of income. About 3.5 million people remain displaced within the country. [...]

Cash is largely unavailable, and many government employees are waiting for unpaid salaries.

In Kabul, beggars are visible on almost every street corner. In the city centre, small children chase after shoppers,

hoping for a piece of bread.”

 

IPC - Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, Afghanistan: Acute Food Insecurity Situation September -

October 2021 and Projection for November 2021 - March 2022, 25 October 2021

“In September and October 2021 (the post-harvest season), nearly 19 million people in Afghanistan experienced high levels of acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 or above), an almost 30% increase from the same season last year (14.5 million people). The main drivers of acute food insecurity include drought and its impacts on crops and livestock, the collapse of public services, a severe economic crisis and increasing food prices. An estimated 6.8 million people in Emergency (IPC Phase 4) and 11.9 million people in Crisis (IPC Phase 3) require urgent action to save their lives, reduce food gaps and protect their livelihoods. [...]

A profound economic crisis is severely restricting household access to food. [...]

Impact on Food Markets and Prices: The period between August to September corresponds to the post-harvest season when wheat and wheat flour prices usually decrease slightly following seasonal trends. However, in 2021, there has been a dramatic and sudden price increase for wheat flour (+28% from June to September) and other food commodities. In addition, cooking oil prices increased by 55% compared to the same period last year and more than 80% above the previous 5-year average, contributing to increasing food and non-food prices. Moreover, the political transition also led to a freeze of US$ 9.5 billion in government assets, further deteriorating the economy and resulting in a 12.5% currency devaluation, which in turn contributed to increasing prices of food and non-food items, especially for imported ones. These higher food prices are negatively impacting the purchasing power of lower-income groups across the country, reducing their access to food. The impact of high prices is not only limited to poor households, with other household income groups unable to access cash due to banking restrictions on cash withdrawals (currently limited to USD200/household/week). [...]

Food insecurity is growing in urban areas. Eleven major towns of selected provinces were analysed to assess the specific vulnerabilities of urban households. Across the urban areas, around 3.98 million people (43% of the analysed population) were facing high levels of acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 or above), of which 1.2 million people (13%) were classified in Emergency (IPC Phase 4). Five out of 11 urban areas were classified in Emergency, and another six urban areas were classified in Crisis (IPC Phase 3). The urban area of Faryab (Maimana), with 65% of its total population classified in IPC Phase 3 or above, is the most vulnerable urban center, followed by Balkh (Mazar), Jawzjan, Helmand (Lashkergah), Hirat, Kunduz, Nangarhar, (e) Baghlan (Pul-e-Khumri), Kabul, and Kandahar, each having 40-55% of their respective populations classified in IPC Phase 3 or above. The impact of the transition of power on the functionality of key services (banks, markets, transports, communication) as well as on labour opportunities (e.g. civil servants and functionality of public and private economic comparts) coupled with unseasonable inflation spikes for food products, deeply affected the capacity of most urban households to produce an income and access food.”

 

BBC News, Afghanistan facing desperate food crisis, UN warns, 25 October 2021

“More than half the population - about 22.8 million people - face acute food insecurity, while 3.2 million children under five could suffer acute malnutrition, the WFP said. [...]

Many Afghans are now selling their possessions to buy food. The new Taliban administration has been blocked from accessing overseas assets, as nations assess how to deal with the hardline group, meaning wages to civil servants and other workers have been withheld.

"It has been more than five months that I have received my wages," a teacher in Herat told the BBC. "Life is tough. I am selling whatever we have at home. We are selling our animals, cutting our trees to sell the wood."

"People are impoverished here," said a man in Kandahar. "Yesterday I saw a woman who was going through the rubbish bins at the local hotel, collecting the leftover food. I asked her why she was doing so and she said she didn't have any other solution, she was trying to find food for her children." [...]

The WFP warned that the looming winter threatened to further isolate Afghans dependent on humanitarian assistance to survive. And for the first time in Afghanistan, urban residents are suffering from food insecurity at

similar rates to rural communities, the organisation said.

"It is urgent that we act efficiently and effectively to speed up and scale up our delivery in Afghanistan before winter cuts off a large part of the country, with millions of people - including farmers, women, young children and the elderly - going hungry in the freezing winter," said QU Dongyu, the director of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation.”

 

CARE, CARE warns of increased risks for women and girls as new report reveals almost half of Afghans now face acute hunger, 25 October 2021

“A new report reveals Afghanistan has descended deeper into an already alarming hunger crisis, exacerbated by drought, increasing displacement, rising food prices, the COVID-19 pandemic and economic decline, with 18.8 million people, close to half the population, now facing acute hunger - an almost 30% increase from the same time last year.

“People in many parts of Afghanistan are resorting to extreme measures just to put food on the table – they’re selling the few assets they have, making tough choices about which family members miss out on meals and some are even marrying their daughters off at a young age just so there is one less mouth to feed. The dramatic rise in the price of wheat between June and September this year by 28% is hugely concerning and puts life-sustaining food out of reach for so many,” said Victor Moses, CARE Afghanistan's Country Director.”

 

Kabul Now, Eight children of a family starve to death in west Kabul, 24 October 2021

“Eight children of a family starve to death in west Kabul

As many as eight children of a single family have starved to death in Etifaq Township, a neighborhood in west part of the capital Kabul, according to the local residents and a religious scholar. The children have died from lack of food after the death of their parents who had previously lost their lives to cancer and heart disease.

The incident took place three weeks ago in PD 13 of Kabul city, Mohammad Ali Rahimi Bamiani, the religious scholar who performed the mass funeral ceremony of the children told Kabul Now today, October 24, in Kabul. He confirmed that all the children were members of a single family and died of starvation.”

 

Al Jazeera, Kabul orphanage struggles to feed its children as cash runs low, 19 October 2021

“Ahmad Khalil Mayan, programme director at a large Kabul orphanage, says he is cutting back on the amount of

fruit and meat he gives the children each week because the home is running out of money.

For the last two months, since the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan and millions of dollars in aid suddenly

dried up, he has been desperately calling and emailing donors, both foreign and local, who supported him before.”

 

BBC, Afghanistan crisis: G20 leaders pledge to avert economic catastrophe, 13 October 2021

“The takeover of this country has caused a massive shock to an economy that was just about surviving [...] With no cash in the market, there has been a sharp rise in prices of day to day necessities including food. An already difficult situation created by war and drought has become much worse.”

 

Landinfo, Afghanistan: En humanitær krise, 13 October 2021

“The prices of absolutely necessary foods such as flour and cooking oil have risen, for example a 50 kilo sack of flour has risen from 21 USD to 24 USD. Other indispensable products such as medicines and electricity have also become more expensive, while those who sell non-essential goods, such as clothing, have declined sales (Duncan & Clark 2021).

The country, which is highly dependent on imports, cannot finance the import of food, medicine, fuel and electricity (UNAMA 2021). The Taliban does not even have the means to pay the import duty to retrieve containers with food reserves from ports in Pakistan (Debre 2021). On the streets, cheap, low-quality fuel is sold, which has been smuggled into the country, probably from Iran (Jahanmal 2021).”

Original excerpt in Norwegian [translated using Google translate]

“Prisene på helt nødvendige matvarer som mel og matolje har steget, eksempelvis har en 50 kilos sekk med mel

steget fra 21 USD til 24 USD. Også andre helt uunnværlige produkter som medisiner og elektrisitet har blitt dyrere, mens de som selger varer som ikke er livsnødvendige, som for eksempel klær, har nedgang i salget (Duncan & Clark 2021).

Landet, som er svært importavhengig, kan ikke finansiere import av mat, medisin, drivstoff og elektrisitet (UNAMA 2021). Taliban har ikke engang midler til å betale importavgiften for å hente ut containere med matreserver fra havner i Pakistan (Debre 2021). På gatene selges billig drivstoff av lav kvalitet, som har blitt smuglet inn i landet, antagelig fra Iran (Jahanmal 2021).”

 

 

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Gandhara, Death Stalks 1 Million Afghan Children Facing Malnutrition, 7 October 2021

“Dozens of malnourished children are now receiving care in the central hospital of Afghanistan's Ghor Province. Malnutrition in Ghor is expected to increase rapidly as poverty in the country grows -- driven by drought and the collapse of the economy following the Taliban takeover in August.”

 

Ariana News, Afghan air corridor for cargo to resume next week, 7 October 2021

“The Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment (ACCI) deputy head said Thursday that Afghanistan’s international air corridor for cargo will resume next week. Mohammad Younis Mohmand told Ariana News the first flight will carry pine nuts.

The ACCI however continues to criticize Pakistan over its treatment of Afghan businessmen and called for issues to be resolved at the Torkham and Spin Boldak land ports.”

 

The New Humanitarian, From rural drought to urban shortages: Afghanistan’s new hungry, 6 October 2021

“Only five percent of Afghan households reported having enough food to eat, according to recent World Food Programme surveys. For the first time, there are similar levels of food insecurity among urban Afghans as drought- hit rural ones, the UN agency said: “Job losses, lack of cash, and soaring prices are creating a new class of hungry in Afghanistan.”

Food worries now stretch from the country’s remote rural corners – which often face the brunt of shortfalls caused by drought, conflict, or under-development – to its urban areas.”

 

TOLO News, WFP: 14 Million Face Food Insecurity in Afghanistan, 6 October 2021

“The World Food Programme (WFP) warned of the dire state of food insecurity sweeping across Afghanistan as winter approaches fast.

While visiting a food distribution center in Herat province in the west, WFP officials said that at least 14 million people in Afghanistan will face food insecurity and over 3 million children are suffering from acute malnutrition. “We have huge concerns about the desperate choices families are being forced to take,” said Mary-Ellen McGroarty, WFP Afghanistan’s Representative and Country Director. “Unless we intervene now, malnutrition will only become more severe. The international community must release the funds they pledged weeks ago, or the impact could be irreversible.”

It is reported that WFP and UNICEF are distributing food to poor Afghan families in several provinces. A number of families who were benefited by lifesaving food packages talked about their poverty, saying they have not been able to pay for food.”

 

UNICEF, Half of Afghanistan’s children under five expected to suffer from acute malnutrition as hunger takes root for millions, 5 October 2021

“KABUL, 5 October 2021 –Wrapping up a two-day visit to Herat, UNICEF Representative in Afghanistan, Hervé Ludovic De Lys, and WFP Afghanistan Representative and Country Director, Mary-Ellen McGroarty, sounded the alarm on the dire state of malnutrition and food insecurity sweeping across the country. Without reliable access to water, food and basic health and nutrition services, Afghan children and their families are bearing the brunt of years of conflict and the current economic crisis.

14 million people in Afghanistan are facing acute food insecurity, and an estimated 3.2 million children under the age of five expected to suffer from acute malnutrition by the end of the year. At least 1 million of these children are at risk of dying due to severe acute malnutrition without immediate treatment.

[...]

According to WFP surveys 95 per cent of households in Afghanistan are not consuming enough food, adults are eating less and skipping meals so their children can eat more.”

 

Reuters, Afghanistan on verge of socio-economic collapse, EU's top diplomat says, 3 October 2021

“Afghanistan is facing a breakdown of its economic and social systems that risks turning into a humanitarian catastrophe, the European Union's foreign policy chief said on Sunday. Avoiding the worst-case scenario would require the Taliban to comply with conditions that would enable more international assistance, Josep Borrell wrote in a blog post.

"Afghanistan is experiencing a serious humanitarian crisis and a socio-economic collapse is looming, which would be dangerous for Afghans, the region and international security," Borrell wrote. Food prices in the country have jumped more than 50% since the Taliban took power in August as the freezing of $9 billion of Afghanistan's assets held in foreign central bank reserves and the withdrawal of foreign income stokes inflation.

The Afghan banking system is largely paralysed, with people unable to withdraw money, while the country's health system - which was heavily dependent on foreign aid - is close to collapse, according to Borrell.

"If the situation continues and with winter approaching, this risks turning into a humanitarian catastrophe," he wrote, adding that this could trigger mass migration into neighbouring states.”

 

WFP, WFP Afghanistan Situation Report, 30 September 2021

“SITUATION UPDATE

•Winter is fast-approaching and the race is on to get food prepositioned at strategic locations before it’s too late.

• Food security is deteriorating sharply: Just 5 percent of households are consuming enough food according to WFP’s latest surveys.

- Urban residents are suffering from food insecurity at similar rates to rural communities, who were ravaged by drought twice in the past three years.

- While families with lower education levels are hardest hit by food insecurity, more than 90 percent of households with high-school or university educations are unable to afford enough food to feed their families.

• Almost no one has enough money to buy food.

- Three out of four households now limit portion sizes; adults are eating less so their children can eat more. o Households headed by women are skipping meals, and reducing their portions far more than those headed by men.

- Three out of four households are also borrowing food (76.7 percent up from 60 percent) or consuming cheaper food (74.5 percent up from 56 percent).

• Cash shortages are hampering commercial transporters, millers and cooperating partners as they face challenges in securing cash to pay staff/drivers and procure raw materials.”

 

ACTED, September, DROUGHT EMERGENCY APPEAL Situation analysis and proposed response, September 2021 [exact date unknown]

“The 2021 harvest for a range of crops is expected to be below average due to the effects of drought. According to the Food Security and Agriculture Cluster (FSAC), total wheat production in 2021 will be 25% less than in 2020 based on initial estimates, and overall the country is facing a national shortfall of 2.46m MT of wheat due to the poor harvests, and a 62% reduction in area under cultivation compared to 2020. Additionally, decreases in rice and vegetable production are also anticipated to be high, with rice production down 20%, vegetable production down 25-30%, and fruit production expected to be down a staggering 80% in some locations. In addition, livestock mortality will further erode food security and increase risks of malnutrition, with livestock production to be down 30% across the most affected provinces.[...]

The impact of the drought is, and will be, very severe for the poorest and most vulnerable small-holder farmers reliant on rain-fed wheat production, as the area of rain-fed wheat planted in 2021 has decreased by 62% from the 2020 level, with the resulting yield also down 47% against the prior year. In addition, the effects of the drought are depleting many already poor and vulnerable household’s financial and asset reserves as they struggle and resort to extremely negative coping strategies, with the poorest and most vulnerable households incurring catastrophic levels of debt.[...]

Unfortunately, long-term forecasts indicate that the drought will continue into 2022, and the next main lean season (late January to late April 2022) is expected to be more intense and arrive earlier, leading to a further deterioration in the food security situation across the country.”

 

BBC News, Taliban: Afghanistan bank boss warns sector near collapse, 28 September 2021

“The United Nations World Food Programme has warned that only 5% of households in Afghanistan have enough to eat every day. Half of those surveyed said they have run out of food altogether at least once in the last two weeks.”

 

NRC, Afghanistan is on a countdown to economic collapse, 27 September 2021

“Statement by Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, who is currently visiting Afghanistan.

“Afghanistan’s economy is spiralling out of control. The formal banking system could collapse any day now because of a lack of cash. I’ve spoken to families who tell me they are surviving on tea and small scraps of old bread.

“If the economy collapses, even the most basic services will no longer function, and humanitarian needs will soar even higher. Dealing with the liquidity crisis is critical as aid organisations seek to scale up to meet urgent humanitarian needs.”

 

WFP, In the grip of hunger: only 5 percent of Afghan families have enough to eat, 23 September 2021

“Due to the combined effects of unemployment, a drop in the value of the local currency and a rise in prices – cooking oil has almost doubled in price since 2020, and wheat is up by 28 percent – only 10 percent of families headed by someone with a secondary or university education can afford sufficient food.”

 

OCHA, Afghanistan, Weekly Humanitarian Update (30 August – 5 September 2021), 13 September 2021

“In the reporting period [...] The prices of food, medicine and other essential supplies in markets across the region reportedly increased by about 30 per cent.”

 

UNOCHA, Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths Statement for the Security Council Briefing on the Humanitarian Situation in Afghanistan, 20 December 2022

“Half of the people urgently need access to clean water and sanitation.”

 

UNICEF, Afghanistan Appeal Humanitarian Action for Children, December 2022

“Sixty-four per cent of surveyed households are affected by drought, with 79 percent reporting lack of water and 51 percent reporting no access to improved latrines.”

 

UNHCR, Afghanistan: UNHCR Operational update - September 2022, 7 November 2022

“The shortages of safe water for drinking and handwashing have been causes of waterborne diseases such as watery diarrhoea outbreaks particularly among children.“

 

ILO, Afghanistan The Employment - Environment - Climate Nexus Employment and environmental sustainability factsheet, November 2022

“As shown in Figure 6, around 50.5 per cent of the population had access to at least basic sanitation services in 2020.13 This represents a change from 21.9 in 2000. Around 75.1 per cent of the population were using at least basic drinking water services (from 28.2 per cent in 2000); 97.7 per cent had access to electricity (from 1.6 per cent in 2000); and 33.2 per cent had access to clean fuels and technologies for cooking (from 6.2 per cent in 2000).14”

 

UNICEF, Afghanistan Humanitarian Situation Report No. 11, 31 October 2022

"Prolonged drought across the country, felt hardest in the Southern, Northern, and Western Regions, continued to impact the availability of and access to safe drinking water. A third consecutive La Niña weather event is likely to persist into the 2022-2023 winter, worsening drought conditions. According to the recent Whole of Afghanistan Assessment, 79 per cent of households reported they do not have sufficient water for their daily needs, including for drinking, cooking, bathing or hygiene.

[…]

“In October, UNICEF continued to support emergency WASH interventions in parts of the country affected by floods, earthquakes, drought, and disease outbreaks. More than 730,000 people gained access to safe water through water trucking, rehabilitation of water supply systems, installation of solar systems, construction of new water supply systems, and water quality monitoring and chlorination.”

 

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), Afghanistan: Earthquake Response Situation Report No. 4, 31 October 2022

“Needs: • Some 58 per cent of assessed households report not having sufficient water, while 63 per cent report water quality issues, and 65 per cent require WASH assistance primarily for clean water and hygiene purposes. Of

126 hand pumps in affected villages, 37 per cent are either damaged or destroyed; further, of 114 karez (underground irrigation tunnels for community-based water management) 33 per cent are reported as damaged or destroyed. • Similarly, 55 per cent of assessed villages do not widely use latrines, while 95 per cent of assessed villages report open defecation. • WASH supplies including hygiene kits, chlorine tabs, hand washing soap etc. are required to support hygiene promotion and safe water handling.”

 

Tolo News, 120 People Killed by Flooding in Past Month, 31 July 2022

“The State Ministry for Disaster Management said that in addition to human losses, the flood caused heavy financial damage to citizens by affecting thousands of acres of agricultural land. "120 people have been martyred and 152 others were wounded in these floods," said Mohammad Naseem Haqqani, a spokesman for the State Ministry for Disaster Management. Meanwhile, the residents of Paktia province said that the recent floods have affected the drinking water in the province.

"There have been some human losses and damages in the districts. It affected the streets," said Asadullah, a resident of Paktia. "The canals and wells which the people have been using for drinking water and agricultural lands have been destroyed," said Rahmatullah Ziarmal, a resident of Paktia.

Over the last month, the flooding occurred in more than ten provinces of Afghanistan and caused damage to public construction, including highways and roads.”

 

Tolo News, Kabul Facing Water Shortages: AUWSSC, 24 July 2022

“The Afghanistan Urban Water Supply and Sewage Corporation (AUWSSC) said that Kabul is facing an extreme decrease in groundwater.”

[…] “According to environmental analysts, lack of water-supplying networks and inappropriate use of groundwater

are the main reason for the drop of water levels in the capital city of Kabul.”

AVA, Water shortages worsen in Kabul, 19 July 2022

“[…] the increase in population, high consumption of underground water, and climate change are among the reasons that have made Kabul city face lower water levels now than ever before.”

 

Pajhwok Afghan News (Afghan News Agency), Sar-i-Pul River water toxic, polluted: Official, 11 July 2022 

"Environmental Protection Department officials say the Sar-i-Pul River water is polluted and toxic due to public negligence.Abdul Hafeez Mohammadi, spokesperson for the Environmental Protection Department, said: “Sar-i-Pul has a big river, whose water flows into canals at seven points. The water is polluted and poisoned due to the negligence of people living on both sides of the river.”

People threw their garbage into the river and allowed sewage from their homes to flow into the river, he alleged. As a result, the river water has been contaminated. “Factories clean their machines in the river. Dirty household items are washed in Sar-i-Pul River — activities that have polluted the Sar-i-Pul River.” He said the government was taking steps to ensure the protection of river water from pollution."

 

Pajhwok Afghan News (Afghan News Agency), Falling riverwater level worries Helmand residents, 9 July 2022 

"Farmers in southern Helmand province say the water level in the main river has declined, posing a serious threat to their crops.The water management director acknowledged the decline in the Helmand River water level, urging growers to avoid wasting the precious resource. Abdul Ali, a farmer from Nawa district, told Pajhwok Afghan News the water level had fallen and their crops were on the verge of destruction. Majeed Khan, a resident of the Shna village of Nawa, also complained of a water shortage and looming drought. Mohammad YaqobQaem, director of water management, explained the water level in the Kajaki dam had also decreased. Currently, the official said, farmers were being given water from Helmand River to prevent crops from being damaged."

 

Khaama News (Afghan News Agency), UNOCHA: Germany Contributes €50 Million to Afghanistan Humanitarian Fund, 6 July 2022

"Afghanistan’s poverty and unemployment have increased due to the country’s political unrest and drought. […] more than 22 million people, or more than half of the country’s population, are experiencing extreme hunger, with the majority unable to predict when their next meal will be, according to the United Nations World Food Program."

 

Pajhwok Afghan News (Afghan News Agency), 30pc of Daikundi residents lack access to potable water, 6 July 2022 

"At least 30 percent of residents of central Daikundi province have no access to potable water, the United Nations International Children’s Emergency…"

 

The Khaama Press, Afghanistan and Iran Strike an Agreement Over Helmand River Water-Sharing, 21 June 2022

“According to an official from the Ministry of Energy and Water, Afghanistan and Iran have resolved their water- sharing disagreement and struck an agreement on the Helmand water pact. The Ministry of Energy and Water said that the water of the Helmand River will be shared with Iran this year, in accordance with the Helmand Water Treaty signed between the two countries in 1973. […] Although Afghanistan is considered to be a “self-sufficient” country in terms of its waters, but the lack of water infrastructure has rendered Afghanistan to have “one of the lowest levels of water storage capacity in the world.”

 

Ariana News, Benefits of proper water management of Salma Dam seen across Herat: Officials, 13 June 2022 

“The Director General of the Harirod-Murghab River Basin, Abdul Salam Mustawafi Agha, said that about 85 dams will be built across the country in the next five years, and that some economic problems will be eased with proper management of dams. “If we have money in our development budget, it should be spent on building dams because our country is agricultural. If our water is controlled and is used safely, our many economic problems will be solved,” he said. In the meantime, Herat officials said local farmers have welcomed the improved water management of Salma Dam as they have been able to irrigate their crops. “The water management has been very good this year and most of the farmers are happy because they irrigated their crops … they benefited from this water, and are now harvesting,” said Ghulam Farooq, one farmer. Experts have also said that the country’s river systems need to be better managed so as to strengthen the agriculture sector in the country.

They have urged the IEA to invest more in this area. “There needs to be an agreement between us and the neighboring countries that the dams should be built in the right way to control the water. We don’t say that water should be cut off to the neighboring countries, the Islamic Emirate should have an agreement with the neighboring countries so that when a dam is built, it will not be destroyed by the destructive reaction of neighboring countries,” said Ghulam Habib Hashimi, chief of the Water Users Association in Herat.”

 

Aga Khan Foundation, EU grant to assist over 100,000 Afghans and their communities, 13 June 2022

“To address the acute shortage of safe drinking water due to drought and damaged water supply systems, reduce the prevalence of waterborne diseases and mitigate risks for women and girls who travel long distances to collect water, the project will rehabilitate or construct 68 wells and water piping systems to benefit over 20,000 people.”

 

Afghanistan Analysts, The Climate Change Crisis in Afghanistan: The catastrophe worsens - what hope for action? 6 June 2022

"However, in the south, the situation is already dire: irrigation water is looking scarce. According to discussions with local people in Jaghatu district of Wardak province and Kandahar city, multiple wells have dried up and people are now lacking drinking water. On 5 April 2022, the Taleban announced they would release Dahla reservoir’s water for twenty-two days to enable farmers irrigate pomegranate orchards, but then stopped the water early. The Dahla reservoir in Kandahar, like the Kajaki in Helmand, did not fill fully. In a normal year, at this time, these dams would be overflowing. Recently, Azadi Radio reported that a person was killed in a water dispute between two villages in the Chak district of Wardak province. Such cases are expected across the country in the future if climate change-induced droughts are not handled."

 

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Global Annual Results Report 2021 GOAL AREA 4 Every child lives in a safe and clean environment, 3 June 2022

"In Afghanistan, where the political situation coupled with a severe drought resulted in an acute humanitarian crisis affecting much of the country, UNICEF responded with WASH interventions. This included support and supplies for water system chlorination, water trucking, the delivery of water and sanitation services in schools and hygiene promotion nationally. Nevertheless, targets were not met owing to multiple operational factors, such as border closures, supply chain disruptions and a range of monetary system issues, including the blocking of bank accounts of the country’s 32,000 Community Development Councils, which have been a critical implementing partners in the WASH sector."

 

Afghan Voice Agency (AVA), Kabul Pledges Commitment to Water Treaty with Iran, 23 April 2022

“The Islamic Emirate said it is ready to discuss the issues related to the Helmand river treaty between Kabul and Teheran and that it remains committed to the treaty.”

 

DTM, Afghanistan — Emergency Event Tracking — Summary Brief: Coping Mechanisms in Response to Food Shortages (Rounds 1 and 2), 14 April 2022

“It should be noted that, in addition to problematic coping mechanisms in response to food shortages, according the EET, assessed communities also experienced vulnerabilities related to drinking water, immediate healthcare and various community shocks.”

 

IOM (DTM), Afghanistan - Baseline Mobility and Community Based Needs Assessment (November-December 2021), 11 March 2022

“Shortages and water quality are the most common barriers to accessing clean water (faced by 72% and 53% of households respectively).”

 

ICRC, Time is running out to save millions of lives in Afghanistan, 25 February 2022

“Work has started to ensure the uninterrupted supply of drinking water in urban centres through support to public water and electricity utilities.”

 

Humanitarian Response of United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Climate, Peace and Security Fact Sheet Afghanistan, 9 February 2022

“Afghanistan is highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change: rising temperatures, changing precipitation patterns and increasingly frequent extreme weather events. Currently, Afghanistan is experiencing its worst drought in 27 years, which, compounded with COVID-19 and the economic contraction that followed the takeover of the government by the Taliban in August 2021, has significantly increased livelihood and food insecurity and contributed to a growing humanitarian emergency.

 

● Climate change exacerbates the deteriorating conditions for agriculture-based livelihoods and food insecurity.

● Conflict and the effects of climate change have increased internal displacement and changed migration patterns. High levels of displacement accentuate food and livelihood insecurity and increase the vulnerability of marginalised groups, including women.

● The effects of climate change may heighten the risk of more frequent and intense local conflicts over land and water and increase tensions over transboundary resources.

● Conflict has eroded the resilience of communities and local authorities to adapt to climate change and to deal with the current humanitarian crisis. This creates opportunities for elites to manipulate and profit

from land and water disputes, with elevated risks for marginalised groups.”

 

Humanitarian Response (Afghanistan) United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA),

UNICEF Afghanistan Humanitarian Situation Report #1 1-15 January 2022, 7 February 2022

“UNICEF provided Humanitarian Cash Transfers (HCT) to 1,165 households (8,155 people including 4,902 children)

in Samangan province, targeting districts severely affected by drought.”

 

OCHA, Afghanistan Humanitarian Needs Overview 2022, 7 January 2022

“Since the fall of Kabul in mid-August, the drinking water supply has drastically reduced in both quantitative and qualitative aspects in cities across the country. Due to financial and bureaucratic disruptions, Urban Water Supply and Sewerage State Owned Corporation (UWASS SoC) has slowed down or outright stopped the water supply to the point that less than 20 per cent of the urban population has access to piped water in cities including Kabul, Kandahar, Hirat, Mazar Jalalabad and Kunduz. The urban water networks and the basic equipment in the water pumping stations and storage systems – such as simply the chlorine dosing pumps – are in a poor repair and system water losses are high – up to 50-60 per cent in UWASS SoC’s estimate, resulting in contamination from surface drainage and untreated wastewater.”

 

TOLO News, UNICEF: Afghan children face ‘acute malnutrition’, 23 December 2021

“The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) highlighted the severe condition of Afghan children and estimated that "one in two children under five will be acutely malnourished in 2022 due to the food crisis and poor access to water, sanitation and hygiene services."

““Children across Afghanistan are increasingly vulnerable to disease and illness due to the deadly combination of rising malnutrition, an unprecedented food crisis, drought, disruptions to vital health and nutrition centers, lack of access to and poor quality of water and sanitation services, and crippling winter weather,” UNICEF said in a recent report.”

 

AP News, An Afghan village shrivels in worst drought in decades, 9 December 2021

“Afghanistan’s drought, its worst in decades, is now entering its second year, exacerbated by climate change. The dry spell has hit 25 of the country’s 34 provinces, and this year’s wheat harvest is estimated to be down 20% from the year before.

Along with fighting, the drought has contributed to driving more than 700,000 people from their homes this year, and the onset of winter will only increase the potential for disaster.”

 

DTM, DTM: EMERGENCY EVENT TRACKING, 29 November 2021

“CFPs were also asked to rank their community’s most urgent needs. Cash and food were identified as the first priority needs, which aligns with reported community shocks in the past month. These include reduced income (94%), loss of employment (96%) and food price increase (95%) (see below). Drinking water and immediate healthcare were second and third priority needs, which is reflected in the reported risk of displacement due to water insecurity (55%) and the majority of communities without a health clinic or hospital (69%).”

 

Afghanistan Analysts Network,Global Warming and Afghanistan: Drought, hunger and thirst expected to worsen, 6 November 2021

"While the nations of the world come together at the COP26 to seek solutions to climate change, Afghanistan is already suffering from global warming. One of the worst droughts in recent years has caused rainfed wheat crops to fail, led to plummeting livestock prices and shortages in drinking water. 19 million people – nearly half of the country’s population – are severely food insecure and require urgent assistance. AAN guest author Mohammad Assem Mayar,* a water resource management expert, maps out the severity of the drought and its effect on people and agriculture, explains how climate change will make drought in Afghanistan more common and looks at what should be done to mitigate their harm."

 

ACTED, September, DROUGHT EMERGENCY APPEAL Situation analysis and proposed response, September 2021 [exact date unknown]

“While Afghanistan has sufficient water for its population and production in aggregate terms, access, storage and efficiency of water use are extremely low due to mismanagement, destruction of systems, and lack of infrastructures and investment, with 88% of irrigation done through informal systems. Overall, it is estimated that 90% of Afghanistan’s water consumption is for agricultural purposes, of which over 50% is lost due to inefficient systems and management. When faced with drought conditions, these issues result in severe WASH needs and water scarcity, especially in rural areas, leading to a lack of access and availability of water. ”

Original excerpt in Norwegian [translated using Google translate]

“Prisene på helt nødvendige matvarer som mel og matolje har steget, eksempelvis har en 50 kilos sekk med mel

steget fra 21 USD til 24 USD. Også andre helt uunnværlige produkter som medisiner og elektrisitet har blitt dyrere, mens de som selger varer som ikke er livsnødvendige, som for eksempel klær, har nedgang i salget (Duncan & Clark 2021).

Landet, som er svært importavhengig, kan ikke finansiere import av mat, medisin, drivstoff og elektrisitet (UNAMA 2021). Taliban har ikke engang midler til å betale importavgiften for å hente ut containere med matreserver fra havner i Pakistan (Debre 2021). På gatene selges billig drivstoff av lav kvalitet, som har blitt smuglet inn i landet, antagelig fra Iran (Jahanmal 2021).”

 

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Gandhara, Death Stalks 1 Million Afghan Children Facing Malnutrition, 7 October 2021

“Dozens of malnourished children are now receiving care in the central hospital of Afghanistan's Ghor Province. Malnutrition in Ghor is expected to increase rapidly as poverty in the country grows -- driven by drought and the collapse of the economy following the Taliban takeover in August.”

 

Ariana News, Afghan air corridor for cargo to resume next week, 7 October 2021

“The Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment (ACCI) deputy head said Thursday that Afghanistan’s

international air corridor for cargo will resume next week.

Mohammad Younis Mohmand told Ariana News the first flight will carry pine nuts.

The ACCI however continues to criticize Pakistan over its treatment of Afghan businessmen and called for issues to

be resolved at the Torkham and Spin Boldak land ports.”

 

The New Humanitarian, From rural drought to urban shortages: Afghanistan’s new hungry, 6 October 2021

“Only five percent of Afghan households reported having enough food to eat, according to recent World Food Programme surveys. For the first time, there are similar levels of food insecurity among urban Afghans as drought- hit rural ones, the UN agency said: “Job losses, lack of cash, and soaring prices are creating a new class of hungry in Afghanistan.”

Food worries now stretch from the country’s remote rural corners – which often face the brunt of shortfalls caused by drought, conflict, or under-development – to its urban areas.”

 

TOLO News, WFP: 14 Million Face Food Insecurity in Afghanistan, 6 October 2021

“The World Food Programme (WFP) warned of the dire state of food insecurity sweeping across Afghanistan as

winter approaches fast.

While visiting a food distribution center in Herat province in the west, WFP officials said that at least 14 million people in Afghanistan will face food insecurity and over 3 million children are suffering from acute malnutrition. “We have huge concerns about the desperate choices families are being forced to take,” said Mary-Ellen

McGroarty, WFP Afghanistan’s Representative and Country Director. “Unless we intervene now, malnutrition will

only become more severe. The international community must release the funds they pledged weeks ago, or the

impact could be irreversible.”

It is reported that WFP and UNICEF are distributing food to poor Afghan families in several provinces.

A number of families who were benefited by lifesaving food packages talked about their poverty, saying they have

not been able to pay for food.”

 

UNICEF, Half of Afghanistan’s children under five expected to suffer from acute malnutrition as hunger takes root for millions, 5 October 2021

“KABUL, 5 October 2021 –Wrapping up a two-day visit to Herat, UNICEF Representative in Afghanistan, Hervé Ludovic De Lys, and WFP Afghanistan Representative and Country Director, Mary-Ellen McGroarty, sounded the alarm on the dire state of malnutrition and food insecurity sweeping across the country. Without reliable access to water, food and basic health and nutrition services, Afghan children and their families are bearing the brunt of years of conflict and the current economic crisis.

14 million people in Afghanistan are facing acute food insecurity, and an estimated 3.2 million children under the

age of five expected to suffer from acute malnutrition by the end of the year. At least 1 million of these children are at risk of dying due to severe acute malnutrition without immediate treatment.

[...]

According to WFP surveys 95 per cent of households in Afghanistan are not consuming enough food, adults are

eating less and skipping meals so their children can eat more.”

 

Reuters, Afghanistan on verge of socio-economic collapse, EU's top diplomat says, 3 October 2021 “Afghanistan is facing a breakdown of its economic and social systems that risks turning into a humanitarian catastrophe, the European Union's foreign policy chief said on Sunday.

Avoiding the worst-case scenario would require the Taliban to comply with conditions that would enable more international assistance, Josep Borrell wrote in a blog post.

"Afghanistan is experiencing a serious humanitarian crisis and a socio-economic collapse is looming, which would be dangerous for Afghans, the region and international security," Borrell wrote.

Food prices in the country have jumped more than 50% since the Taliban took power in August as the freezing of

$9 billion of Afghanistan's assets held in foreign central bank reserves and the withdrawal of foreign income stokes inflation.

The Afghan banking system is largely paralysed, with people unable to withdraw money, while the country's health system - which was heavily dependent on foreign aid - is close to collapse, according to Borrell.

"If the situation continues and with winter approaching, this risks turning into a humanitarian catastrophe," he wrote, adding that this could trigger mass migration into neighbouring states.”

 

WFP, WFP Afghanistan Situation Report, 30 September 2021

“SITUATION UPDATE

• Winter is fast-approaching and the race is on to get food prepositioned at strategic locations before it’s too late.

• Food security is deteriorating sharply: Just 5 percent of households are consuming enough food according to WFP’s latest surveys.

  • Urban residents are suffering from food insecurity at similar rates to rural communities, who were ravaged by drought twice in the past three years.

  • While families with lower education levels are hardest hit by food insecurity, more than 90 percent of households with high-school or university educations are unable to afford enough food to feed their families.

• Almost no one has enough money to buy food.

  • Three out of four households now limit portion sizes; adults are eating less so their children can eat more. o Households headed by women are skipping meals, and reducing their portions far more than those headed by men.

  • Three out of four households are also borrowing food (76.7 percent up from 60 percent) or consuming cheaper food (74.5 percent up from 56 percent).

• Cash shortages are hampering commercial transporters, millers and cooperating partners as they face challenges in securing cash to pay staff/drivers and procure raw materials.”

 

ACTED, September, DROUGHT EMERGENCY APPEAL Situation analysis and proposed response, September 2021 [exact date unknown]

“The 2021 harvest for a range of crops is expected to be below average due to the effects of drought. According to the Food Security and Agriculture Cluster (FSAC), total wheat production in 2021 will be 25% less than in 2020 based on initial estimates, and overall the country is facing a national shortfall of 2.46m MT of wheat due to the poor harvests, and a 62% reduction in area under cultivation compared to 2020. Additionally, decreases in rice and vegetable production are also anticipated to be high, with rice production down 20%, vegetable production down 25-30%, and fruit production expected to be down a staggering 80% in some locations. In addition, livestock mortality will further erode food security and increase risks of malnutrition, with livestock production to be down 30% across the most affected provinces.[...]

The impact of the drought is, and will be, very severe for the poorest and most vulnerable small-holder farmers reliant on rain-fed wheat production, as the area of rain-fed wheat planted in 2021 has decreased by 62% from the 2020 level, with the resulting yield also down 47% against the prior year. In addition, the effects of the drought are depleting many already poor and vulnerable household’s financial and asset reserves as they struggle and resort to extremely negative coping strategies, with the poorest and most vulnerable households incurring catastrophic levels of debt.[...]

Unfortunately, long-term forecasts indicate that the drought will continue into 2022, and the next main lean season (late January to late April 2022) is expected to be more intense and arrive earlier, leading to a further deterioration in the food security situation across the country.”

 

BBC News, Taliban: Afghanistan bank boss warns sector near collapse, 28 September 2021

“The United Nations World Food Programme has warned that only 5% of households in Afghanistan have enough to eat every day.

Half of those surveyed said they have run out of food altogether at least once in the last two weeks.”

 

NRC, Afghanistan is on a countdown to economic collapse, 27 September 2021

“Statement by Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, who is currently visiting Afghanistan.

“Afghanistan’s economy is spiralling out of control. The formal banking system could collapse any day now because of a lack of cash. I’ve spoken to families who tell me they are surviving on tea and small scraps of old bread.

“If the economy collapses, even the most basic services will no longer function, and humanitarian needs will soar even higher. Dealing with the liquidity crisis is critical as aid organisations seek to scale up to meet urgent humanitarian needs.”

 

WFP, In the grip of hunger: only 5 percent of Afghan families have enough to eat, 23 September 2021

“Due to the combined effects of unemployment, a drop in the value of the local currency and a rise in prices – cooking oil has almost doubled in price since 2020, and wheat is up by 28 percent – only 10 percent of families headed by someone with a secondary or university education can afford sufficient food.”

 

OCHA, Afghanistan, Weekly Humanitarian Update (30 August – 5 September 2021), 13 September 2021

“In the reporting period [...] The prices of food, medicine and other essential supplies in markets across the region reportedly increased by about 30 per cent.”