KABUL: A worsening malnutrition crisis is having dire effects on women and girls in Afghanistan who are failed by the international community, the World Food Programme&#39;s top official in the country told AFP. The UN agency supplies most of the food aid to Afghanistan, which has been run by <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/afghan-taliban-envoy-posted-to-indian-capital" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Taliban</a> officials since 2021. While&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/millions-at-risk-as-afghanistans-food-crisis-deepens-aid-agency" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">aid donations</a>&nbsp;have been slashed over the past couple of years, the Afghan government has faced criticism from abroad for banning women from most professions and blocking girls from attending school beyond the age of 12. John Aylieff, director for Afghanistan at the World Food Programme (WFP), spoke to AFP about the &quot;heartbreaking&quot; struggle to feed families. What do you expect to happen this year?&nbsp;&quot;In the next 12 months, five million women and children in this country will experience acute malnutrition, the life-threatening type of malnutrition,&quot; he said, out of a <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/us-to-close-qatar-transit-site-for-afghan-evacuees" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">population</a> of more than 40 million. &quot;Nearly four million children in this country will need <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/malnutrition-crisis-in-south-asia-a-tale-of-two-nations" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">malnutrition</a> treatment. These numbers are staggering.&quot; What&#39;s the impact of funding cuts?&nbsp;&quot;I think we are, as an international community, abandoning and letting down the very people, women and children in particular, that we pledged to protect,&quot; he said, following &quot;immensely generous&quot; funding in 2021 and 2022. &quot;But since then, funding to Afghanistan has been cut and cut further and cut further,&quot; said Aylieff, with $600 million in donations to WFP for 2024 halved last year. &quot;If we can&#39;t treat children with malnutrition, those children are going to die. Clinics treating children with malnutrition are closing down.&quot; &quot;When those women carry their child, maybe four or five hours to the clinic, and they get there and they&#39;re told WFP simply does not have the money to treat your child anymore -- this is heartbreaking.&quot; What are the consequences for women?&nbsp;&quot;One of the phenomena which has surprised us the most this year (2025) is the dramatic surge in the number of pregnant and breastfeeding women who are malnourished,&quot; said Aylieff. &quot;They&#39;re not getting the food assistance that would otherwise be helping them. Those women are also sacrificing their own health and their own nutrition to feed their children. Many of them just don&#39;t know how to cope.&quot; &quot;In areas where we&#39;ve stopped assisting as WFP, we&#39;re seeing girls being sold off into early marriage just so their families can put food on the table. We&#39;re seeing children being pulled out of school and sent to work.&quot; &quot;And we&#39;re getting an increasing number of distress calls to WFP from very desperate women across the country, including some suicide calls.&quot; &quot;This is very harrowing.&quot;

Afghan women rest outside the Grand Mosque in Herat on January 8, 2026. (Photo by Wakil KOHSAR / AFP)

Afghanistan

Aid cuts are worsening Afghanistan’s hunger crisis, with the World Food Programme saying millions of women and children face acute malnutrition as clinics shut, pregnant women suffer, and families turn to early marriage and child labour to survive.

Malnutrition having 'harrowing' impact on Afghan women: WFP

Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: The International Rescue Committee (IRC) said on Tuesday it is expanding emergency food assistance in Afghanistan after a new assessment revealed the severity of the country&#39;s hunger crisis, warning that 4.7 million people now face acute starvation amid shrinking aid and worsening food insecurity. In a press release, the IRC announced a Cash for Food programme providing support to 3,200 households in Bamiyan, Kunar, and Herat provinces, following needs assessments that found that 95% of participants had &#39;poor&#39; Food Consumption Scores, indicating insufficient daily access to food. The New York-based agency said the findings reflect a broader deterioration in food access as Afghanistan enters the winter lean season, when household food stocks are depleted, and income opportunities decline. Deepening hunger and food insecurityRecent United Nations analyses show that about 17 million Afghans now urgently need food assistance, including 4.7 million in IPC Phase 4 (Emergency), with mothers and young children among the most affected.&nbsp; Under the Afghanistan Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan, more than one-third of the population is expected to face crisis-level or worse food insecurity during the 2025-26 lean season, with many households forced to sell assets or reduce meals to meet basic needs. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has warned that humanitarian needs continue to outpace available assistance. In 2026, an estimated 21.9 million people, about 45% of Afghanistan&rsquo;s population, will require humanitarian aid, it said. Impact on children and womenUN agencies have repeatedly cautioned that Afghanistan is facing one of the world&rsquo;s most severe nutrition emergencies, particularly among children. The World Food Programme (WFP) estimates that nearly 3.7 million children under the age of five will suffer from acute malnutrition in 2025 and into early 2026, while 4.9 million women and children will require treatment for malnutrition. The agency said declining funding and high food prices have limited the scale of life-saving assistance. UNICEF reported that millions of children were screened for wasting in the first half of 2025, with hundreds of thousands admitted for treatment. The spread of preventable diseases such as measles and acute watery diarrhoea has further strained health services already operating under severe constraints. UN appeals and funding shortfallsThe humanitarian response faces severe funding constraints; 422 health facilities closed in 2025, leaving about three million people without access to essential healthcare, UN relief chief Tom Fletcher told the UN Security Council last month. At the end of 2025, the United Nations and its partners launched a $1.7 billion appeal to assist nearly 18 million people in urgent need through 2026, identifying food security, health, water, and sanitation as priority areas. The crisis has been compounded by multiple factors. OCHA says the ongoing drought has caused the failure of nearly 80% of rain-fed wheat crops in some regions, leaving many families without winter food reserves. Meanwhile, UNHCR data shows more than 2.6 million Afghans returned from Iran and Pakistan in 2025, adding strain to already impoverished communities. Aid agencies say funding shortfalls have forced cuts to critical programmes, including emergency food distributions and nutrition services.&nbsp;Lisa Owen, IRC&rsquo;s Afghanistan director, warned of severe consequences if funding declines continue. &ldquo;Acute hunger is a persistent challenge in Afghanistan, yet the latest figures show an appalling deterioration in humanitarian needs,&rdquo; she said. Humanitarian groups say the IRC&rsquo;s expanded food assistance highlights the urgency of closing funding gaps and scaling up life-saving aid.&nbsp; Without increased international support, Afghanistan&rsquo;s hunger and malnutrition crisis is expected to worsen in 2026, leaving millions at risk as winter conditions persist.

UNICEF/Munir Tanweer: Food rations for vulnerable families in Afghanistan are to be cut by the World Food Programme.

The International Rescue Committee has expanded emergency food assistance in Afghanistan after assessments showed worsening hunger. UN agencies say 4.7 million people face emergency food insecurity as funding gaps threaten life-saving humanitarian programs.

Millions at risk as Afghanistan’s food crisis deepens: Aid agency

KHAN YOUNIS: At a hospital in Gaza, wards are filled with patients fearing they will be left without care if Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is forced out under an Israeli ban due to take effect in March. Last month, Israel announced it would prevent 37 aid organizations, including MSF, from operating in Gaza from March 1 for failing to provide detailed information on their Palestinian staff. &quot;They stood by us throughout the war,&quot; said 10-year-old Adam Asfour, his left arm pinned with metal rods after he was wounded by shrapnel in a bombing in September. &quot;When I heard it was possible they would stop providing services, it made me very sad,&quot; he added from his bed at Gaza&#39;s Nasser Hospital. Israel&#39;s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, which oversees NGO registrations, has accused two MSF employees of links to Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad, allegations MSF vehemently denies. The ministry&#39;s decision triggered international condemnation, with aid groups warning it would severely disrupt food and medical supplies to Gaza, where relief items are already scarce after more than two years of war. Inside the packed Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, one of the few medical facilities still functioning in the territory, MSF staff were still tending to children with burns, shrapnel wounds and chronic illnesses, an AFP journalist reported. But their presence may end soon. The prospect was unthinkable for Fayrouz Barhoum, whose grandson is being treated at the facility. &quot;Say bye to the lady, blow her a kiss,&quot; she told her 18-month-old grandson, Joud, as MSF official Claire Nicolet left the room. Joud&#39;s head was wrapped in bandages covering burns on his cheek after boiling water spilled on him when strong winds battered the family&#39;s makeshift shelter. &quot;At first his condition was very serious, but then it improved considerably,&quot; Barhoum said. &quot;The scarring on his face has largely diminished. We need continuity of care,&quot; she said. &#39;We will continue working&#39;&nbsp;AFP spoke with patients and relatives at Nasser Hospital, all of whom expressed the same fear: that without MSF, there would be nowhere left to turn. MSF says it currently provides at least 20 percent of hospital beds in Gaza and operates around 20 health centres. In 2025 alone, it carried out more than 800,000 medical consultations and over 10,000 deliveries. &quot;It&#39;s almost impossible to find an organisation that will come here and be able to replace all that we are doing currently in Gaza,&quot; Nicolet told AFP, noting that MSF not only provides medical care but also distributes drinking water to a population worn down by a prolonged war. &quot;So this is not really realistic.&quot; Since the start of the war in October 2023, triggered by Hamas&#39;s deadly attack on southern Israel, Israeli officials and the military have repeatedly accused Hamas of using Gaza&#39;s medical facilities as command centres. Many have been damaged by two years of bombardments or overcrowded by casualties, while electricity, water and fuel supplies remain unreliable. Aid groups warn that without international support, critical services such as emergency care, maternal health, and paediatric treatment could collapse entirely, leaving hundreds of thousands of residents without basic medical care. Humanitarian sources say at least three international NGO employees whose files were rejected by Israeli authorities have already been prevented from entering Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing. &quot;For now, we will continue working as long as we can,&quot; said Kelsie Meaden, an MSF logistics manager at Nasser Hospital, adding that constraints were already mounting. &quot;We can&#39;t have any more international staff enter into Gaza, as well as supplies... we will run into shortages.&quot;

A Palestinian man walks on his crutches to the Doctors Without Borders or Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) clinic, in the al-Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City on new year's Eve, December 31, 2025. (AFP)

Middle East

Wards are filled with patients fearing they will be left without care if Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is forced out under an Israeli ban due to take effect in March.

Patients cling to medical organization in Gaza hospital as Israel orders it out

BANDA ACEH: Governments and aid groups in Indonesia and Sri Lanka worked to rush aid on Tuesday to hundreds of thousands stranded by deadly flooding that has killed around 1,200 people in four countries.&nbsp; Torrential monsoon season deluges, paired with two separate tropical cyclones last week, dumped heavy rain across all of Sri Lanka and parts of Indonesia&#39;s Sumatra, southern Thailand and northern Malaysia. Climate change is producing more intense rain events because a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, and warmer oceans can turbocharge storms. The floodwaters have now largely receded, but the devastation means hundreds of thousands of people are now living in shelters and struggling to secure clean water and food. In Indonesia&#39;s Aceh, one of the worst-affected regions, residents told AFP that survivors who could afford to were stockpiling supplies. &quot;Road access is mostly cut off in flood-affected areas,&quot; 29-year-old Erna Mardhiah said as she joined a long queue at a petrol station in Banda Aceh. &quot;People are worried about running out of fuel,&quot; she added from the line she had been in for two hours. The pressure has caused skyrocketing prices. &quot;Most things are already sky-high... chillies alone are up to 300,000 rupiah per kilo ($18), so that&#39;s probably why people are panic-buying,&quot; she said. On Monday, Indonesia&#39;s government said it was sending 34,000 tons of rice and 6.8 million litres of cooking oil to the three worst-affected provinces, Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra. &quot;There can be no delays,&quot; Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman said. Food shortage riskAid groups said they were working to ship supplies to affected areas, warning that local markets were running out of essential supplies and prices had tripled already. &quot;Communities across Aceh are at severe risk of food shortages and hunger if supply lines are not reestablished in the next seven days,&quot; charity group Islamic Relief said. A shipment of 12 tonnes of food from the group aboard an Indonesian navy vessel was due to arrive in Aceh on Tuesday. At least 631 people were killed in the floods across Sumatra, and 472 are still listed as missing. A million people have evacuated from their homes, according to the disaster agency. Survivors have described terrifying waves of water that arrived without warning. In East Aceh, Zamzami said the floodwaters had been &quot;unstoppable, like a tsunami wave.&quot; &quot;We can&#39;t explain how big the water seemed; it was truly extraordinary,&quot; said the 33-year-old, who, like many Indonesians, goes by one name. People in his village sheltered atop a local two-storey fish market to escape the deluge and were now trying to clean the mud and debris left behind while battling power and telecommunications outages. &quot;It&#39;s difficult for us (to get) clean water,&quot; he told AFP on Monday. &quot;There are children who are starting to get fevers, and there&#39;s no medicine.&quot; The weather system that inundated Indonesia also brought heavy rain to southern Thailand, where at least 176 people were killed. Across the border in Malaysia, two more people were killed. Colombo floodwaters recede&nbsp;A separate storm brought heavy rains across all of Sri Lanka, triggering flash floods and deadly landslides that killed at least 390 people. Another 352 remain missing, and some of the worst-hit areas in the country&#39;s centre are still difficult to reach. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has declared a state of emergency to deal with what he called the &quot;most challenging natural disaster in our history&quot;. Unlike his Indonesian counterpart, he has called for international aid. Sri Lanka&#39;s air force, backed by counterparts from India and Pakistan, has been evacuating stranded residents and delivering food and other supplies. In the mountainous Welimada region, security forces on Monday recovered the bodies of 11 residents buried by mudslides, a local official said. In the capital Colombo meanwhile, floodwaters were slowly subsiding on Tuesday. The speed with which waters rose around the city surprised local residents used to seasonal flooding. &quot;Every year we experience minor floods, but this is something else,&quot; delivery driver Dinusha Sanjaya told AFP. &quot;It is not just the amount of water, but how quickly everything went under.&quot; Rains have eased across the country, but landslide alerts remain in force across most of the hardest-hit central region, officials said.

A youth carries an elderly man as they wade through a flooded street after heavy rainfall in Wellampitiya on the outskirts of Colombo on November 30, 2025. (AFP)

Climate

Natural Disaster

Deadly floods across Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Malaysia have killed around 1,200 people and displaced over a million. Governments and aid groups race to deliver food, clean water, and supplies as devastated regions face shortages and rising prices.

Race to get aid to Asia flood survivors as toll nears 1,200 

CAIRO: Preparations were underway Sunday for a ramp-up of aid entering the war-battered Gaza Strip under a new ceasefire deal that many are hoping will signal an end to the devastating 2-year-long war. The Israeli defense body in charge of humanitarian aid in Gaza, COGAT, said that the amount of aid entering Gaza Strip is expected to ramp up on Sunday to around 600 trucks per day, as stipulated in the agreement. Egypt said it is sending 400 trucks carrying aid into Gaza Sunday. The trucks will have to be inspected by Israeli forces before being allowed in. Associated Press footage showed dozens of trucks crossing the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing. The Egyptian Red Crescent said the trucks include medical supplies, tents, blankets, food and fuel. The trucks will head to the inspection area in the Kerem Shalom crossing for screening by Israeli troops. In recent months, the UN and its partners have been able to deliver only 20% of the aid needed in Gaza because of the fighting, border closures and Israeli restrictions on what enters. Expanding Israeli offensives and restrictions on humanitarian aid have triggered a hunger crisis, including famine in parts of the territory. The United Nations has said that it has about 170,000 metric tons of food, medicine and other humanitarian aid ready to enter Gaza once Israel gives the green light. Gaza Humanitarian Fund future in questionThe fate of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an Israeli- and US-backed contractor that replaced the UN aid operation in Gaza in May as the primary food supplier, remains unclear. Food distribution sites operated by the group in the southernmost city of Rafah and central Gaza were dismantled following the ceasefire deal, several Palestinians said Sunday. Hoda Goda, who used to go to the GHF sites in Rafah earlier this year, said people had dismantled the structures and taken wood and metal fences GHF workers used to control the crowds. Another Palestinian, Ehab Abu Majed, said the site in eastern Khan Younis was also dismantled, and there was no food distribution in the past two days. Ahmed al-Masri, a man living in the central Nuseirat refugee camp, said a third site in the Netzarim corridor area was also dismantled. GHF had been touted by Israel and the United States as an alternative system to prevent Hamas from taking over aid. However, its operations were mired in chaos and hundreds of Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire while heading to its four sites. The Israeli military has said its troops fired warning shots to control crowds. A GHF representative declined to comment Sunday. Preparations for hostage, prisoner release, Trump visitPreparations were also underway Sunday for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza and Palestinian prisoners held in Israel. A message sent Saturday from Gal Hirsch, Israel&rsquo;s coordinator for the Hostages and the Missing and obtained by The Associated Press, told hostage families to prepare for the release of their loved ones starting Monday morning. One of the families of the hostages confirmed the note&rsquo;s authenticity. Hirsch said preparations in hospitals and in Rei&rsquo;im camp were complete to receive the live hostages, while the dead will be transferred to the Institute of Forensic Medicine for identification. An international task force will start working to locate deceased hostages who are not returned within the 72-hour period, said Hirsch. Officials have said the search for the bodies of the dead, some of whom may be buried under rubble, could take time. Israeli officials believe about 20 of the hostages out of 48 held by Hamas and other Palestinian factions in Gaza are still alive. All of the living hostages are expected to be released Monday. US President Donald Trump, who pushed to clinch the ceasefire deal, is expected to arrive in Israel Monday morning. He will meet with families of hostages and speak at the Knesset, Israel&rsquo;s parliament, according to a schedule released by the White House. Trump will then continue on to Egypt, where the office of Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has said he will co-chair a &ldquo;peace summit&rdquo; on Monday with attendance by regional and international leaders. Timing has not yet been announced for the release of some 2,000 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel who are to be freed under the deal. They include 250 people serving life sentences in addition to 1,700 people seized from Gaza during the war and held without charge. Gaza residents return homePalestinians continued to move back to areas vacated by Israeli forces Sunday, although many were returning to homes reduced to rubble. Satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press showed a line of vehicles traveling north to Gaza City. The photos taken Saturday showed a line of vehicles on Al Rashid Street, which runs north-south along the Gaza Strip&rsquo;s coastline on the Mediterranean Sea. Tents along the coast also could be seen near Gaza City&rsquo;s marina. Many people have been living along the sea to avoid being targeted in Israeli bombardment of the city. Armed police were seen in Gaza City and southern Gaza patrolling the streets and securing aid trucks driving through areas from which the Israeli military had withdrawn, according to residents. The police force is part of the Hamas-run Interior Ministry. Two years of war have wrought devastationThe war began when Hamas-led militants launched a surprise attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, in which some 1,200 people were killed and 250 taken hostage. In Israel&rsquo;s ensuing offensive, more than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to Gaza&rsquo;s Health Ministry, which doesn&rsquo;t differentiate between civilians and combatants but says around half the deaths were women and children.&nbsp; The war has destroyed large swaths of Gaza and displaced about 90% of its 2 million residents. It has also triggered other conflicts in the region, sparked worldwide protests and led to allegations of genocide that Israel denies. While both Israelis and Palestinians in Gaza welcomed the initial halt to the fighting and plans to release the hostages and prisoners, the longer-term fate of the ceasefire remains murky. Key questions about governance of Gaza and the post-war fate of Hamas have yet to be resolved. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a post on X that he had instructed the Israel military to prepare to begin destroying the network of tunnels built by Hamas under Gaza &quot;through the international mechanism that will be established under the leadership and supervision of the US&rdquo; once the hostages are released.

A ceasefire in Gaza has enabled increased aid deliveries, with 600 trucks expected daily. Hostage and prisoner releases are set to begin, while uncertainty remains over Gaza’s governance and post-war reconstruction.

Articles tagged with "Aid"

Malnutrition having 'harrowing' impact on Afghan women: WFP

Millions at risk as Afghanistan’s food crisis deepens: Aid agency

Patients cling to medical organization in Gaza hospital as Israel orders it out

Race to get aid to Asia flood survivors as toll nears 1,200

Aid preparations ramp up in Gaza as ceasefire sparks hope to end 2-year war