RASC News Agency: The World Food Programme (WFP) has revealed that, due to extreme poverty and hunger, some families in Afghanistan are being driven to marry off their young daughters. In a video shared on social platform X, WFP called this a “heart-wrenching reality” for numerous Afghanistani families. WFP attributes the escalating poverty in Afghanistan primarily to successive droughts and the intensifying climate crisis. Earlier, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that Afghanistan had received $6.7 billion in aid over the past three years. Despite these funds, the economic crisis in the country remains unrelenting.
This latest report coincides with an update from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, which highlighted that 23.7 million people in Afghanistan are in immediate need of humanitarian assistance this year. The Federation also emphasized that Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis is growing more complex, with the country confronting profound and long-term challenges. Notably, these humanitarian funds, along with billions of dollars purportedly directed to the Taliban by regional and international intelligence agencies, have reportedly been misappropriated by Taliban officials. Despite significant spending, there is no transparent accounting of how these funds have been utilized.
The WFP, alongside other humanitarian organizations, identifies Afghanistan’s ongoing humanitarian crisis as a result of recurring natural disasters, worsening impacts of climate change, widespread internal displacement, severe economic hardship, entrenched food insecurity, and substantial challenges in healthcare services.
