RASC News Agency: The World Food Programme (WFP) has revealed that by 2024, a staggering three out of four families in Afghanistan have been forced to borrow money or food to meet their basic nutritional requirements. The situation is even more alarming in rural areas, where four out of five families find themselves burdened with debt. According to the WFP, the average debt incurred by Afghanistani families to secure food stands at 38,200 kabuli rupees, equivalent to approximately $560. Amid this mounting crisis, the WFP warns that many vulnerable Afghanistani families are unlikely to receive assistance in the coming months due to critical funding shortages. The report underscores that one-quarter of households across the country do not have adequate food to sustain their lives.
The WFP’s analysis highlights a significant deterioration in economic conditions for Afghanistan’s impoverished families following the Taliban’s return to power. Despite plans to extend cash and food aid to six million individuals in the near future, this assistance will cover less than half of those urgently in need of humanitarian support. A prior WFP report noted that 23.7 million people in Afghanistan require humanitarian assistance, with 12.4 million enduring “acute” levels of food insecurity. The report stated: “Over the past two years, severe budget constraints have compelled the WFP in Afghanistan to halve the food or cash support provided to households, leaving millions of people who rely on this assistance for survival excluded from beneficiary lists.”
In the first half of 2024, the WFP was able to deliver life-saving food aid to only one million people per month, leaving 11 million others without the critical support they needed. Looking ahead, the organization stresses that it requires $680 million over the next six months to provide life-sustaining aid to the most vulnerable food-insecure families across Afghanistan and to help them endure the harsh winter conditions.
