Catastrophic aid shortfall in Afghanistan as hunger surges and women face greater restrictions

NEW YORK CITY: Leading UN officials on Monday warned of a deteriorating humanitarian emergency in Afghanistan, amid chronic underfunding of aid efforts, a worsening hunger crisis and escalating restrictions on women, the combined effects of which are pushing millions of Afghans deeper into destitution.

Briefing the security council, Edem Wosornu, director of the Crisis Response Division at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said that nearly half of the country’s population requires humanitarian assistance but this year’s response plan, which requires $1.71 billion of funding to help 17.5 million people, has received just 15 percent of this target.

The consequences can already be seen, she added: the reach of the humanitarian response has diminished by 40 percent compared with last year, with 3 million fewer people receiving assistance.

The World Food Programme has warned that unless more funding is urgently provided, famine-prevention activities for approximately 1.5 million people in high-risk areas will be cut.

“Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis is not standing still,” Wosornu said, speaking on behalf of the UN’s emergency relief coordinator, Tom Fletcher. “It is evolving and, in several respects, deteriorating.”

An Afghan internally displaced girl stands outside a temporary tent along a river, driven from her home by ongoing clashes between Pakistani forces and Taliban security personnel in the Marawara district of Kunar province, Apr. 12, 2026. (Files/AFP))

About 4.7 million people, 50 percent more than the same period last year, are now at risk of severe food insecurity, which is Phase 4 out of the five phases of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (Phase 5 represents famine). An estimated 3.7 million children are facing acute malnutrition. The UN said it continues to receive reports of families resorting to desperate measures, including selling their daughters, to survive.

The hunger crisis has been compounded by an outbreak of fighting between Afghanistan and Pakistan in late February that displaced more than 100,000 people across eastern and southeastern regions and caused several hundred civilian casualties. About 17,000 families in two districts of Nuristan Province were cut off from all aid for nearly two months as a result of the conflict.

A ceasefire agreement in April has reduced the front-line violence but border closures have remained in place, disrupting supply chains and squeezing humanitarian operations. The UN called for urgent efforts to reopen the border.

Compounding the crisis further, springtime flooding has killed nearly 100 people and destroyed or damaged tens of thousands of homes, as well as health facilities, schools and roads.

The council also heard about the plight of women and girls in Afghanistan, with speakers describing a growing pattern of systematic exclusion that has generational consequences.

At least six facilities for women in Herat Province have closed since March, livelihood programs for women have been suspended, and female humanitarian workers have been stopped in Herat and accused by de facto authorities of inappropriate dress. Over the weekend, the UN said it had received reports that dozens of women, including health workers, were arrested for allegedly failing to comply with dress codes. Afghan women remain barred by the Taliban from entering UN premises, a prohibition that is entering its 10th month.

Georgette Gagnon, deputy special representative of the secretary-general and officer-in-charge of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, told council members that what is unfolding was not a case of isolated incidents.

“What we are witnessing are severe and growing restrictions, the imposition of systemic and institutionalized harm with long-term generational consequences for Afghan society as a whole,” she said.

An Afghan woman who only studies online, listening to songs by Aryana Sayeed, an Afghan pop star who fled after Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, on her mobile phone inside a house in Afghanistan, Feb. 18, 2026. (Files/AFP)

An estimated 3.8 million girls between the ages of 7 and 18 are not in school, including more than 2.6 million adolescent girls. Each year, about 250,000 more girls are permanently excluded from secondary education. Gagnon cited UNICEF analysis that indicates restrictions on women’s participation in education and labor are already imposing a cost on the Afghan economy, with projections showing the loss of more than 25,000 skilled workers in sectors such as health and education by 2030.

A Taliban decree, number 18, on the separation of spouses enacted last month is a 31-article family law that the UN said places severe restriction on divorce and effectively normalizes child marriage. It was described by Gagnon as a violation of core principles of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, as well as children’s rights. The decree is the most recent in a series of measures institutionalizing a system that increasingly diverges from Afghanistan’s international human rights obligations, the UN added.

In addition, the return of about 736,000 Afghans to their country so far this year, mostly from Pakistan, has placed a mounting strain on host communities. Nearly 5.9 million people have returned since 2023, representing an increase in population of more than 10 percent. Up to an additional 2.8 million are projected to return this year. Meanwhile, the World Bank has assessed that Afghans are becoming poorer, in real terms.

Gagnon cautioned that the convergence of limited employment prospects, climate stress and demographic pressures was creating conditions conducive to migration, social and political alienation and potential radicalization among a population in which more than half of people are under the age of 25.

She urged all countries that are returning people to Afghanistan to uphold their international obligations, including the principle of non-refoulement (which means ensuring that returnees will not face threats to their lives or freedom, torture, persecution or other human rights abuses), and to ensure that all returns are voluntary, safe and dignified.

A security personnel with the Taliban flag keeps watch as visitors enjoy rolling down a steep and sandy mountainside on a weekend at the Sayad area of Reg-e-Rawan in Kapisa province, Apr. 24, 2026. (Files/AFP)

Regarding the financial situation, Wosornu reported progress under Security Council Resolution 2615, a humanitarian exception adopted in December 2021 that enables aid organizations to make routine operational payments in Afghanistan without falling foul of sanctions. The proportion of organizations reporting difficulties transferring funds into or out of the country has dropped from 87 per cent before the exception was secured, to about 15 per cent as of last month.

But she cautioned that bureaucratic obstacles continue to slow deliveries, and that humanitarian organizations face pressures through attempts to influence aid distribution and contracting. The UN said it manages these risks through monitoring systems, post-distribution verification, the vetting of financial services providers, and complaints mechanisms.

Wosornu called on the Security Council to continue to support principled humanitarian action and full implementation of Resolution 2615; to use its influence to press for protection of civilians and access for humanitarian workers, particularly women; and to urgently scale up the amount of flexible and predictable funding.

Gagnon called on participants in the Doha Process, a multilateral framework through which international and regional actors engage with the de facto authorities in Afghanistan, to sustain and deepen their engagement, and urged the Taliban to establish a structured mechanism for further dialogue with UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan. She said such engagement represents a strategic necessity rather than any endorsement of the regime in the country.