95% of people in Afghanistan do not have enough to eat: WFP

The United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) says 95 percent of people in Afghanistan “do not have enough to eat,” and that “hunger continues rising in Afghanistan”.

On Saturday, the WFP Asia Pacific warned on its official Twitter account that in January, “8 in 10 income-earning households experienced a significant decrease in income, with Kabul hit the hardest. Worse still, some were forced to brave the cold month with no income at all.”

Since the chaotic withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan, the collapse of the former government and the take over of power by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) in August last year, unemployment levels have increased throughout the country, leaving parents unable to provide food for their families.

The direct result has been a surge in malnutrition, producing a dramatic rise in pneumonia in children.

Six months after the IEA took power, no country has yet recognized their rule and all foreign assets belonging to Afghanistan have remained frozen.

The UN says that Afghanistan, which is already suffering from high poverty levels, is facing “one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters.”

On Thursday, the WFP said that “with each passing month, new waves of people are turning to drastic measures to feed their families in Afghanistan.”

It added that about two-thirds of all people in Afghanistan – “66% – are now resorting to crisis coping strategies – up from 58% in Dec 2021, & 11% before 15 Aug.”