The return of six million Afghans pushed back mainly from Pakistan and Iran since September 2023, has increased the strain on the country’s already fragile economy.
“In the past three years, close to six million Afghans have been forcibly expelled from neighbouring countries,” said John Aylieff, WFP Country Director for Afghanistan. Briefing journalists in Geneva from Kabul, he explained that there are “simply not enough jobs to sustain” the returnees.
“Conflict with Pakistan and the Middle East crisis have created trade disruptions, which have pushed up the price of staple foods by 20 to 30 per cent...The poor are being priced out of the market,” he explained.
Because of crippling funding cuts, WFP has been able to feed only one in nine of the 14 million people now acutely hungry in Afghanistan.
And as funding shortfalls deepen, lifesaving nutrition programs are being scaled back, just as needs are peaking.
Child wasting - the deadliest form of malnutrition - has reached critical levels in one-third of the country's provinces. “The number of children being rushed to health centres is soaring and we're seeing this visibly. Eighty per cent of the worst cases are children under two years of age and NGOs report that too many of them are arriving too late to be saved,” warned Mr. Aylieff.
