© UNICEF/M. Naphthalene Almost 22 million people in Afghanistan require humanitarian assistance. Drought, malnutrition and restrictions on women’s rights are deepening the crisis in Afghanistan Humanitarian Aid
Potato skin soup for dinner for a family of nine has become a daily reality for many in Afghanistan. The effects of climate change and drought, chronic hunger, and increasing restrictions on women since the Taliban took power in 2021 have left millions struggling to survive.
Humanitarian organizations are doing everything they can to help those in need, including identifying severely malnourished children in sparsely populated “ghost villages” that are abandoned by everyone who can. Olga Cherevko, a representative of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), spoke about this. impossible”.“In one of the villages I visited, they told me that about half of the residents were forced to leave. There is simply no water for irrigation, so the crops died. Those who had the opportunity to leave did so,” Olga Cherevko said in an interview with the UN News Service.
Those who remained are often unable to leave their homes due to lack of funds. Cherevko gave an example of the fate of one of the families she met during the trip: “One man told me that there were nine people in his family. He showed what they had for lunch. It was a bowl of soup made from rotten potato skins – food that was prepared only in order to survive.”The UN estimates that some 3.7 million children will suffer from acute malnutrition in Afghanistan in 2026. Many cases remain undetected. As Cherevko said, in some UN-supported clinics, children are dying because parents do not recognize the signs of malnutrition and seek help too late. malnutrition.
Return to the unknown
Humanitarian organizations are also registering thousands of people every day who are being returned to Afghanistan, often forcibly, by neighboring countries. Thus, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), about eight thousand people returned to Afghanistan in a week.
Many of them had never lived in Afghanistan before and did not plan to return there. Now their main task is to survive in a country where there are very few opportunities to start a new life. “When buses drop them off in cities, many simply have nowhere to go,” Cherevko said. “Some try to go back to the countries from which they were expelled, but they are deported again.” Despite this, driven by desperation and lack of prospects, people continue to look for an opportunity to leave Afghanistan
Restrictions for women and girls
Talking about their On a trip to Bamyan province, Olga Cherevko noted that many Afghan women told her the same thing – when opportunities for women are limited, the whole family suffers.
She said banning girls’ education would ruin their chances of future employment. “All the women I spoke with are deeply concerned about the fate of their daughters, who can no longer attend school and risk being left without a future,” said the expert. Thus, there is a particularly acute shortage of female specialists, especially doctors. If a female doctor leaves her position, finding a replacement is often nearly impossible. As a result, women and girls face serious challenges in accessing health care, including maternal and reproductive health services, newborn care, support for malnourished children, and education.
Scope of Humanitarian Needs
Since January Until April 2026, 5.9 million Afghan residents received humanitarian assistance in one form or another. For 3.5 million of them, support included food. These figures highlight the scale of the country’s food crisis and the ongoing humanitarian needs of millions of people. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs emphasizes that many families require regular and comprehensive assistance throughout the year.