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WFP warns of looming global food crisis amid massive funding shortfalls

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The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday that every one percent cut in food assistance risks pushing more than 400,000 people towards the brink of starvation.

This comes as WFP is being forced to cut rations amid donor funding shortfalls.

WFP experts have warned that in the next 12 months, an additional 24 million people around the world could slip into emergency hunger – a 50 percent increase on the current level.

“With the number of people around the world facing starvation at record levels, we need to be scaling up life-saving assistance – not cutting it,” said WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain. “If we don’t receive the support we need to avert further catastrophe, the world will undoubtedly see more conflict, more unrest, and more hunger. Either we fan the flames of global instability, or we work quickly to put out the fire.”

According to a statement issued by WFP, there are currently 345 million people facing acute food insecurity worldwide, with 40 million of these in emergency levels of hunger. These are people forced to take desperate measures to survive and are at risk of dying from malnutrition. WFP’s food assistance is a vital lifeline, often the only thing separating them from starvation.

WFP has been struggling to meet the global need for food assistance while facing a funding shortfall of over 60 percent this year – the highest in WFP’s 60-year history. And for the first time ever, WFP has seen contributions decreasing while needs steadily increase.

“There’s only one way out of this,” the WFP chief said. “We need to fund emergency operations to feed the hungry today while simultaneously investing in long-term solutions that address the root causes of hunger. Our shared goal must be ending the vicious, unsustainable, and costly cycle of crisis and response.”

Afghanistan is one of numerous countries that relies on significant food assistance from the WFP.

Earlier this month WFP said 21 million people in Afghanistan need life-saving food aid and nutrition, and livelihood support; but that it only has the ability to help one out of five people who go to bed hungry at night. This came after the organization was forced to cut aid to two million people in Afghanistan.

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Four members of one family killed in Helmand in Pakistan airstrike

The family, originally from Ghazni province, reportedly operated a small restaurant in the area.

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Four members of a family were killed and seven others wounded in an airstrike in Safar area of Garmser district in southern Afghanistan’s Helmand province, according to local reports.

The family, originally from Ghazni province, reportedly operated a small restaurant in the area.

The bodies of those killed and the wounded were transported by helicopter to Ghazni province for burial and medical treatment, according to the reports.

 

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UNAMA acting chief visits Islam Qala border to assess support for returnees

UN launched a $529 million response plan aimed at assisting around 2.7 million Afghans expected to return from Iran and Pakistan between April and December 2026.

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Georgette Gagnon, UNAMA’s acting head, visited western Afghanistan, including the Islam Qala border crossing, to see firsthand UN efforts to support millions of Afghans returning from neighboring Iran and Pakistan.

Earlier this year, the UN launched a $529 million response plan aimed at assisting around 2.7 million Afghans expected to return from Iran and Pakistan between April and December 2026.

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Trump: Unlike Afghanistan, US took all equipment from Iraq

Trump said the withdrawal from Iraq marked the end of what he described as a costly military involvement, adding that he had set a clear mission and instructed commanders to complete it without allowing the US presence to become permanent.

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US President Donald Trump on Wednesday compared the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq with the 2021 US withdrawal from Afghanistan, saying military equipment had been left behind in Afghanistan, while US forces leaving Iraq took their equipment with them.

Speaking at a White House event, Trump referred to the final departure of US-led coalition forces and equipment from Erbil Air Base in northern Iraq, which marked the end of the US military mission against Daesh in Iraq.

“I said, take a little longer. Take everyone. We left all of the equipment, if you remember, in Afghanistan. Everything was left behind,” Trump said.

“I said, ‘I want every screw taken. If there’s a screw lying on the ground, take it. If we have a canvas tent, take it.’ We took everything,” he added.

He also mentioned the August 2021 attack at Kabul airport that killed 13 US soldiers.

Trump said he had become acquainted with the families of the US service members killed in the attack and also highlighted those who were seriously wounded.

“What happened to those—to their children should never have been allowed to happen,” he said, adding that 48 wounded service members were severely injured and “never get mentioned.”

Trump said the withdrawal from Iraq marked the end of what he described as a costly military involvement, adding that he had set a clear mission and instructed commanders to complete it without allowing the US presence to become permanent.

The US military announced on Wednesday that its forces and equipment had completed an orderly departure from Erbil Air Base, formally ending Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq. The US-led mission began in 2014 to fight Daesh after the group seized large areas of Iraq and Syria. The US is continuing its counter-Daesh mission in Syria from a headquarters in Jordan.

Trump said the US had entered Iraq to fight the Islamic State and that the group no longer controlled a territorial “caliphate.”

“We came to fight a caliphate, and there is no longer a caliphate, so we are going home indeed,” he said.

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