Five years after the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan, a new report by Refugees International warns that the country’s humanitarian crisis has entered a more dangerous phase following major cuts to U.S. aid.

The report says the abrupt termination of U.S. humanitarian assistance in 2025 has contributed to the closure of health facilities, the loss of thousands of healthcare workers and the weakening of critical lifesaving services.

Based on 555 surveys, interviews with healthcare workers and data collected from hospitals and health facilities across Afghanistan, the report documents cases of preventable deaths and rising maternal and newborn mortality.

Refugees International says the findings offer some of the strongest evidence to date that reductions in U.S. humanitarian funding are having deadly consequences for Afghans.

The organization has called for urgent attention to the impact of the funding cuts, warning that Afghanistan continues to face severe humanitarian and healthcare challenges.

Declining humanitarian funding is putting millions of Afghans at greater risk, with women and girls facing some of the most severe consequences as health facilities close and essential services are reduced, CARE has warned.

The international humanitarian organization said 21.9 million people in Afghanistan will need humanitarian assistance in 2026. Between April and September, an estimated 13.8 million people are expected to face crisis levels of acute food insecurity, while nearly 3.7 million children under five and 1.2 million pregnant and breastfeeding women are projected to suffer from acute malnutrition.

CARE said funding shortages have already forced it to close 30 clinics this year, while the World Health Organization has reported that about 150 health facilities nationwide have suspended operations or closed since January because of funding shortfalls.

The closures are raising particular concerns for pregnant women in a country where maternal mortality remains extremely high. Afghanistan has a maternal mortality rate of 638 deaths per 100,000 live births, which CARE describes as the highest in Asia.

“Emergency assistance remains essential, but it is not enough,” said Mohammad Akmal Shareef, CARE’s Country Director in Afghanistan, calling for sustained investment in healthcare, education, nutrition, livelihoods and local civil society organizations.

Shareef also emphasized the critical role of female healthcare and humanitarian workers in reaching women and girls who may otherwise struggle to access assistance.

CARE estimates that more than 10 million Afghan women and girls will require humanitarian assistance in 2026, making the continued presence of trained female doctors, nurses, teachers and aid workers particularly important.

The organization urged the international community to maintain engagement with Afghanistan and provide longer-term funding for essential services, arguing that the country needs support that extends beyond emergency relief and helps communities strengthen resilience and move toward greater stability.

CARE has operated in Afghanistan since 1961. The organization said it reached approximately 1.2 million people in 2025, with women and girls accounting for 67 percent of those reached. It currently supports 32 health facilities in Balkh, Paktya, Khost, Ghazni and Herat provinces

Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan will group senior ministers, hold ‌joint exercises and deepen defence industry cooperation under a military pact signed between the regional powers last week, Turkey’s defence ministry said on Thursday.

The three Sunni Muslim U.S. allies, alarmed by ​a regional conflagration that has brought Iranian missile fire onto Gulf ​oil exporters, signed the “Mecca Joint Defence Agreement” on August 7. They ⁠said the accord stipulates that an armed attack against any member would be ​regarded as an attack on all, similar to NATO’s Article 5 collective defence clause, Reuters reported.

At a ​weekly briefing in Ankara, the defence ministry said the pact’s fundamental goal was to ensure defence and military ties were put on a “more institutional and sustainable” footing.

“Under the accord, strategic political ​and military mechanisms plan to be established involving the Defence Ministers, Foreign Ministers, ​and Chiefs of General Staff/Armed Forces Commanders, and that coordination among the three countries will ‌be conducted ⁠at the highest level,” it said.

The ministry added that joint military exercises involving land, naval, and air forces, as well as air defence and unmanned systems were planned, in addition to deeper defence industry cooperation.

“The aim is to provide not ​only product and system ​supply, but also ⁠joint development and production, technology cooperation, and sustainable maintenance and logistics support,” it said, adding that unmanned and autonomous systems, ​electronic warfare and artificial intelligence capabilities would be prioritised.

Turkey, which ​has NATO’s ⁠second-largest army, has said the pact with nuclear-armed Pakistan and top oil exporter Saudi Arabia was open to expansion — with Egypt as a potential candidate — and did not ⁠seek ​to replace any existing alliances, read the report.

The ministry also said ​Turkey was participating in meetings in Jeddah aimed at establishing an international coalition to protect Red Sea shipping.