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Nearly one-third grapple with hunger in Afghanistan: WFP
WFP projects that 3.5 million children will suffer from malnutrition this year, or one child every ten seconds.
The World Food Programme (WFP) has launched an urgent appeal for $451 million to support vulnerable families across Afghanistan over the next six months.
In a post on X on Wednesday, the UN food agency said that nearly one-third of Afghanistan’s population is facing hunger.
“Afghanistan is not 100 people. It is 46 million people, of which nearly one-third grapple with hunger,” WFP stated. “If Afghanistan were 100 people, 50 would need humanitarian assistance to survive.”
WFP said the needed funds are critical to help the country’s most vulnerable as Afghanistan endures one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
The country is experiencing its fourth consecutive year of drought, economic decline, and recurring natural disasters and the ongoing campaign to deport Afghan refugees from Iran and Pakistan has only worsened the already fragile situation.
According to UN agencies, more than 2.4 million people have returned to Afghanistan from neighboring countries since late 2023. Many of them have arrived with little or no resources.
The UN estimates that nearly 23 million people—mostly women and children—will need humanitarian assistance in 2025.
WFP projects that 3.5 million children will suffer from malnutrition this year, or one child every ten seconds.
Despite the growing needs, humanitarian funding continues to fall short.
WFP’s appeal came the same day as that issued by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) which announced that more than $400 million in funding will be required to support the reintegration of Afghan returnees in 2025.
In a statement posted on its official Facebook page on Wednesday, May 7, UNAMA detailed that $64 million is urgently needed for emergency assistance at border crossings, while an additional $350 million is required to support approximately 600,000 returnees and affected communities in rebuilding their lives.
“We call on donors not only to invest in emergency assistance, but also in long-term capacity building to help break the cycle of displacement and instability,” the statement read.
UNAMA’s funding appeal is part of the “Integrated Response Plan” to address the anticipated crisis stemming from the mass return of Afghan migrants from Pakistan in 2025.
Nooruddin Azizi, Afghanistan’s Minister of Industry and Commerce, met with Yu Xiaoyong, China’s Special Representative in Kabul, to discuss expanding trade and investment opportunities between the two countries, the ministry said.
According to a statement from the Ministry of Industry and Commerce issued on Wednesday, Azizi said Afghanistan offers a secure and favorable environment for investment and invited Chinese investors to explore opportunities across various sectors of the Afghan economy.
He also stressed the need to increase and facilitate Afghan exports to China, particularly products such as cotton, pomegranates, pine nuts, and precious and semi-precious stones. Azizi called for improved customs, transit, and transportation facilities to strengthen trade between the two countries.
Yu, for his part, noted the growing interest of Chinese traders and investors in the Afghan market, describing Afghanistan as a country with significant untapped investment potential within China’s broader economic strategy.
Both sides emphasized the importance of closer cooperation between relevant institutions in the two countries to facilitate trade and promote investment, according to the statement.
Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has officially ratified the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) between Uzbekistan and Afghanistan.
The agreement was first signed on 10 June 2025 during the Tashkent International Investment Forum by Uzbekistan’s Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade Laziz Kudratov and Afghanistan’s Minister Nuriddin Azizi, Uzbekistan Daily reported.
The PTA eliminates tariffs on 14 categories of goods, simplifies the issuance of phytosanitary permits for Afghan agricultural products, and introduces additional support measures for Uzbek exporters.
In February 2026, Uzbekistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Jamshid Khodjaev held online talks with Azizi to accelerate the agreement’s entry into force, advance investment projects, and promote industrial cooperation. A new joint business forum is planned to take place in Kabul after the conclusion of Ramadan.
The agreement is expected to strengthen bilateral trade, boost economic ties, and create new opportunities for Afghan businesses and exporters.
A senior official from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says many Afghans living in Iran are facing increasingly difficult decisions as insecurity and economic hardship deepen across the region.
Arafat Jamal, the UNHCR representative in Afghanistan, told Al Jazeera that Afghans in Iran are caught between two difficult realities: remaining in Iran amid growing instability and economic strain, or returning to Afghanistan where many also face uncertainty and insecurity.
“At the moment, it seems to be more of a preemptive move,” Jamal said, referring to Afghans leaving Iran. “People are describing bombs falling around them. There is a great deal of fear, but they are also describing a dysfunctional economy.”
According to Jamal, approximately 110,000 Afghans have returned from Iran so far this year, many driven by fear of escalating conflict and deteriorating living conditions.
“For these people there are no good choices,” he said. “They are fleeing one war only to come to another,” Jamal added, referring to ongoing cross-border tensions and military activity involving Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The UNHCR official noted that the current wave of returns follows an already unprecedented movement of people.
In 2025, around 2.8 million Afghans returned to Afghanistan, making it the largest refugee return movement in the world that year.
Humanitarian agencies warn that Afghanistan is struggling to absorb such large numbers of returnees, particularly as the country faces widespread poverty, limited employment opportunities, and reduced international aid.
Jamal also cautioned that the United Nations currently lacks sufficient funding to maintain long-term assistance programs for returning refugees.
Without additional financial support, aid organizations may struggle to provide housing, food, and basic services to the growing number of returnees arriving in Afghanistan.
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