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Durand Line closure, Iran conflict worsening hunger crisis in Afghanistan: UN
The United Nations says nearly one million additional Afghan children at risk of malnutrition could have received food assistance if tensions with Pakistan and the war involving Iran had not sharply increased transport costs and disrupted supply routes.
Carl Skau, deputy executive director of the World Food Programme, told AFP that Afghanistan is facing an escalating nutrition emergency, with malnutrition cases reaching record levels in 2025.
“It is a nutrition crisis here in Afghanistan,” Skau said, adding that the rise in malnutrition this year is even worse than last year’s unprecedented surge.
According to WFP estimates released in January, around five million Afghan women and children are expected to suffer life-threatening malnutrition this year.
The crisis has been compounded by a near-total closure of the Durand Lin for eight months, as well as the broader economic fallout from the conflict involving Iran. The disruptions have driven up food and fuel prices and affected supply chains.
“If we weren’t struggling with the supply chain, both delays and costs, we would be able to feed a million more children here in Afghanistan,” Skau said.
He cited the example of thousands of tons of fortified biscuits intended for Afghan schoolchildren that were originally scheduled to enter Afghanistan through Pakistan. After the Durand Line closure, the supplies were rerouted through Dubai and Iran, but renewed regional conflict forced another diversion through several countries, including Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, Georgia and Turkmenistan.
“It’s about to arrive this week, but it’s taken… months. It cost us way more,” Skau said.
The WFP has also struggled to secure funding for Afghanistan, receiving only eight percent of its targeted budget for this year.
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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.
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.
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.
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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