A senior United Nations official warned on Wednesday that food could run out in Afghanistan this month, which could add a hunger crisis to the challenges facing the Taliban movement that now rules the country and seeks to restore stability after decades of war.
Ramiz Al-Akbarov, Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan, said that it is very important to provide for the humanitarian needs of the Afghan people, noting that more than half of Afghan children do not know whether they will eat their dinner or not.
Al-Akbarov added that $200 million is needed to cover the food needs of Afghans and that more than a third of Afghanistan's population, which numbered 38 million people, are not confident of securing their food needs, noting that the United Nations is seeking to deliver food to 18 million people, but it got half of what is required. .
The UN official affirmed their determination to provide basic services to the needy, but the funding is insufficient, and said that they were able to deliver the first plane carrying medical aid to Mazar-i-Sharif, calling for allowing food aid to be delivered to the capital, Kabul.
He pointed out that the areas that suffer the most are in the south and north-east of the country, explaining that the country's budget depends on aid and grants, and this situation is currently not encouraging, but he revealed that they have received positive indications from two countries to provide food support to the Afghans.
He explained that they continue to communicate with the Taliban and stressed the respect for the role of women in aid.
humanitarian disaster
Yesterday, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned of an imminent "humanitarian catastrophe" in Afghanistan and urged countries around the world to provide urgent financial aid following the departure of US forces from the country.
"A humanitarian catastrophe is looming," he said in a statement, citing "the worsening humanitarian and economic crisis" and "the risk of a complete collapse of basic services."
Guterres also urged UN member states to "provide timely, flexible and comprehensive funding" to the Afghan people who are going through "the most difficult times" for their basic needs.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations reminded that "nearly half of the Afghan population, 18 million people, need humanitarian assistance to survive."
"One out of every three Afghans does not know where their next meal will come from," he added, stressing that more than half of children under the age of 5 will suffer from hunger in the next year.