The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has issued an urgent appeal for $555 million to continue delivering life-saving food assistance to Afghanistan’s most vulnerable families through the end of August, warning that one-third of the country’s population now faces acute hunger.
In a statement released on Sunday, the agency said that Afghanistan’s economic collapse, exacerbated by nearly four years of Taliban rule, ongoing sanctions, and international isolation, has created a humanitarian crisis that continues to deepen.
Due to a major funding shortfall, the WFP currently has the capacity to assist only six million people, leaving more than eight million Afghans without access to critical food supplies. The agency said women and children are bearing the brunt of the crisis, particularly in female-headed households, two-thirds of which are unable to meet basic nutritional needs.
The situation is made worse by Taliban-imposed restrictions on women’s employment, education, and mobility, which have further undermined household resilience and access to livelihoods.
“The climate crisis has further damaged farmland and homes across many regions,” the WFP noted, citing the increasing frequency of floods and droughts. The agency warned that without immediate international support, millions more people are at risk of slipping into extreme food insecurity.
The WFP’s appeal comes amid broader concerns about donor fatigue and the global diversion of aid resources to other emergencies, particularly in Gaza, Sudan, and Ukraine. Humanitarian agencies have repeatedly called for sustained international engagement in Afghanistan to prevent the crisis from worsening further.
