Funding shortcoming forces WFP to cut rations to 4 million Afghans

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
18 Mar 2023 13:10
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The WFP says it urgently needs $93 million in funding to reach 13 million people in Afghanistan in April.

A logo of the World Food Programme seen on a plane at the National Airport Minsk, Belarus, April 19, 2018 (Reuters)

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) on Friday announced that it has been forced to cut rations to 4 million Afghans this month due to a funding shortfall amid the country's severe humanitarian crisis.

"Due to funding constraints, at least four million people will receive just half of what they need to get by in March," the WFP indicated in a statement, stressing that the agency urgently needs $93 million in funding to reach 13 million people in Afghanistan in April.

Since the Taliban took over power in 2021 after the hasty US withdrawal, the already poor country has plunged deeper into economic crisis and foreign governments cut development funding and enforced sanctions on the banking sector.

Some officials, including from the United Nations, have expressed concerns that donors would pull back on the country's huge humanitarian aid program after a series of restrictions on women that the Taliban administration imposed last year, including barring most Afghan female non-government organization staff from work in December.

The drop in rations comes at the end of a particularly harsh, deadly winter when many families have depleted their food stores and before the next harvest season around May.

The United Nations estimated that around 90% of Afghans cannot afford enough food.