Taliban-ruled Afghanistan on 'brink of mass starvation' says WFP; calls for urgent aid

As Afghanistan is about to complete four months under Taliban regime, war-torn country is on brink of mass starvation that aid groups have warned might kill a million children amid freezing temperatures this season. In latest report released by United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), ncies presented that food crisis in Afghanistan has reached an unprecedented level as nearly 19 million people are highly food insecure due to prolonged drought, conflict and ecomic collapse. Although malnutrition has remained a constant problem in war-torn country for decades, it has reached potential life-threatening levels after Taliban took over Kabul following hasty withdrawal of US-led coalition forces.

While drop to harrowing levels is mostly due to cash-strapped ecomy, experts have also believed that overnight seizure or billion sir dollars or foreign aid have also fuelled paralysing of Afghan ecomy furr impeding relief work in country, New York Times reported. lack of jobs and limited availability of cash has also created a "new class of hungry" as urban residents have also begun to face hunger crisis for first time, WFP chief David Beasley said after returning from Kabul recently.

"What’s happening in Afghanistan is just horrific. I met families with jobs, cash and food, mors who sold one child to feed ar, and lucky children who made it to hospital," Beasley .

According to WFP report, 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 ir lives, reduce food gaps and protect ir livelihoods. Additionally, in a report produced by UN earlier, wheat harvest this year is expected to remain 25% below aver level. Compounding worries of skyrocketing food prices, drought, failing health care system have pushed children and pregnant mors, suffering from malurishment, to flood hospital wards.

'Tsunami of hunger'

w, as with winter already set in, humanitarian groups have raised caution that millions of children could die as international community continues to maintain ecomic restrictions, citing illegitimacy of Taliban government. "People are being pushed to brink of survival. Jobs are being lost, food prices are going up, fuel prices are going up, and people just can’t feed mselves.” WFP’s Country Director, Mary-Ellen McGroarty, described while speaking to CNN.

According to Nutrition Cluster estimates that 27 out of 34 provinces are above emergency threshold for acute malnutrition. At least 3.9 million people need acute malnutrition treatment services in 2021, including one million children under five with severe acute malnutrition (SAM), 2.2 million children under five with moderate acute malnutrition (MAM), and 0.7 million pregnant and lactating women (PLW) with acute malnutrition, WFP report mentioned.

“We need to separate politics from humanitarian imperative. millions of women, children, of men in current crisis in Afghanistan are incent people who are being condemned to a winter of absolute desperation and potentially death," World Food Program’s country director for Afghanistan, Mary-Ellen McGroarty said, as quoted by NY Times.

Lastly, it is pertinent to mention that hasty political transition in August 2021 followed by significant disruptions in public finances, services, and blocked international aid has left an ermous impact on Afghan citizens, particularly women. Meanwhile, as World Bank board, including US, allowed some flexibility last week to move $280 million frozen dor funding for World Food Programme and UNICEF, however, transfer of funds to Afghanistan still remains unclear.

Im: AP