Afghanistan is facing worsening humanitarian challenges as disruptions linked to the ongoing Strait of Hormuz crisis drive up food, fuel and transport costs, placing additional pressure on aid operations across the country.

Speaking at UN Headquarters in New York on Thursday, World Food Programme (WFP) Acting Executive Director Carl Skau said warnings issued earlier in the crisis about the knock-on effects of higher energy prices were now materialising in some of the world’s most vulnerable countries.

Skau stated that few places illustrate the cascading consequences of the crisis more starkly than Afghanistan.

Fresh from a visit to the country, he described witnessing hundreds of mothers carrying visibly malnourished children away from a rural health clinic near Jalalabad because nutrition supplies had run out.

The shortages stem from a combination of funding cuts and supply-chain disruptions that have complicated deliveries previously routed through neighbouring countries.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Skau said. “The desperation in that clinic is hard to describe.”

Afghanistan is simultaneously coping with economic pressures linked to the regional crisis and the return of some 2.8 million people deported or repatriated from neighbouring countries over the past year.

According to WFP, an additional 2.3 million people in Afghanistan have been pushed into acute hunger since the crisis began nearly 100 days ago.

Rising food prices, higher transport costs and underfunded aid programmes are reducing the ability of humanitarian organizations to reach vulnerable communities.

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has also warned that shipping delays and rising transport costs are affecting the delivery of critical supplies, including vaccines, therapeutic food and medical assistance. Humanitarian cargo is now facing delays of up to six months in some cases.

UN officials say the impact of the Strait of Hormuz crisis extends far beyond the Middle East, with vulnerable countries such as Afghanistan bearing some of the heaviest consequences. They warn that prolonged disruptions could further increase hunger, deepen poverty and undermine fragile humanitarian gains.

The latest warnings come as aid agencies continue to appeal for greater international support to prevent a further deterioration of conditions for millions of Afghans who remain dependent on humanitarian assistance.