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One million Afghan children face severe malnutrition, UNICEF warns
Afghanistan’s child malnutrition crisis has reached an alarming level, with an estimated 3.7 million children across the country suffering from acute malnutrition, according to a report by Arab News.
Around one million of these children are experiencing severe malnutrition, a life-threatening condition requiring urgent treatment and care.
Tajudeen Oyewale, UNICEF’s representative in Afghanistan, told Arab News that limited dietary diversity, poverty, disease, declining humanitarian assistance and growing pressure on health services are among the key factors driving the crisis.
He said access to diverse, nutritious foods and proper child-feeding practices remains a major challenge for Afghan families.
Oyewale also noted that the return of more than six million people from Iran and Pakistan since 2023 has placed additional pressure on Afghanistan’s health services, food supplies and water resources.
According to UNICEF, its child nutrition programme in Afghanistan requires around $180 million in 2026, but only 22 percent of the required funding has been secured so far.
The UNICEF representative said the organization has the knowledge, capacity and access needed to address malnutrition, but stressed that flexible and sustained funding is essential to expand services and reach vulnerable children.
Officials from the Kandahar Chamber of Commerce and Investment say that 294,000 tons of fresh and dried fruit have been exported from the province to foreign countries over the past year.
According to them, the total value of these exports amounts to $519 million.
Abdulbaqi Bina, Deputy Head of the Kandahar Chamber of Commerce and Investment, says the products were exported to India, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, Canada and several other countries.
Meanwhile, fresh and dried fruit traders are calling on the government to provide alternative transit routes, new markets, and greater facilitation for obtaining visas and transportation for the export of these products.
This comes as nearly 59,000 tons of fresh and dried fruit were exported from Kandahar to foreign countries
The case of 87 Afghan students seeking extensions of their study visas has reached the Islamabad High Court, with the students also asking for protection from arrest, detention and deportation, Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reported.
According to Pakistani journalist Tahir Khan, the students have petitioned the court to order the government to extend their visas and prevent law-enforcement agencies from harassing, arresting, detaining or deporting them solely because their previous study visas have expired.
During Friday’s hearing, lawyer Aimal Khan Mandokhel told the court that Pakistan’s Interior Ministry had issued study visas to the Afghan students about a year ago. However, the students say authorities have since stopped extending existing visas and issuing new ones.
The Afghan Students Union at the International Islamic University Islamabad has also said Pakistani authorities have suspended study visa extensions for Afghan students for an extended period. It added that several students have allegedly been arrested and deported in recent months.
The hearing was adjourned following an exchange between Justice Khadim Hussain Soomro and lawyer Aimal Khan Mandokhel.
The case is expected to be heard again later this month.
Latest News
Wali Khan urges Pakistan to resolve tensions with Afghanistan through diplomacy
Wali Khan called on Islamabad to pursue a serious diplomatic approach to de-escalate tensions with Afghanistan and other neighboring countries.
Aimal Wali Khan, the President of Awami National Party (ANP) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has urged the Pakistani government to address tensions with neighboring countries, particularly Afghanistan, through serious diplomatic engagement.
Speaking to reporters in Islamabad on Thursday, Wali Khan said the ongoing tensions are causing the greatest harm to ordinary people, especially those in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
“War is not a permanent solution to any problem,” he stressed.
Wali Khan called on Islamabad to pursue a serious diplomatic approach to de-escalate tensions with Afghanistan and other neighboring countries.
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