Report warns of reduced food aid to Afghanistan

KABUL (Tolo News): A report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) warned of a major reduction in Humanitarian Food Assistance to Afghanistan from 38% to 8%. “At household level, the situation is compounded by the forecasted reduction of Humanitarian Food Assistance after the month of May. HFA is expected to decrease from 38% of the population receiving on average two third food ration in the current period, to 8% in the June-November projection due to lack of funding.
The IPC Acute Food Security Analysis in a recent report made estimates from March 2022 to November 2022 and said that nearly 20 million Afghans are facing hunger due to economic problems and drought. “In the current period, 19.7 million (47% of the analysed population) were estimated to be in IPC Phase 3 (Crisis) or above. This includes 20,324 people in IPC Phase 5 (Catastrophe), 6.6 million people (16%) in IPC Phase 4 (Emergency) and 13 million (31%) in IPC Phase 3 (Crisis),” the report said.
The Ministry of Economy said that the reduction of international aid will affect the country’s economy. “We are trying through economic diplomacy to not only stop an reduction in aid but to increase it. The international community and the international organizations must ensure their human responsibility toward Afghanistan,” said Abdul Latif Nazari, deputy Minister of Economy.
Economists said that the situation will become worse if necessary steps are not taken to tackle the economic problems. “If the situations keep going like this, there is a possibility of humanitarian catastrophe,” said Azeraksh Hafizi, an economist. “The Russian war of Ukraine has affected the food security across the world especially in the developing countries countries such as Afghanistan,” said Abdul Naseer Rishtia, an economist.