The warning comes after the Donald Trump administration canceled foreign aid contracts, including in Afghanistan, more than half of the population needs humanitarian aid to survive.
Action against hunger initially dried up in March, all U.S.-funded activities were stopped in March. However, it has maintained the most critical services in the northeast Badakh Mountain province and the capital Kabul through its own budget, a measure that has been stopped this month.
Its treatment feeding unit in Kabul is empty and closed this week. There are no patients, and the employee contract is about to end due to cuts in the U.S. funds.
“If we don’t treat acute malnutrition children (they die) at a high risk,” Cobi Rietveld, the national director against hunger, told the Associated Press. “No children die from malnutrition. If we don’t fight hunger, people die from hunger. If they don’t get medical treatment, there’s a high risk of death. If they don’t get medical treatment, they die.”
This year, more than 3.5 million children in Afghanistan suffer from acute malnutrition, a 20% increase from 2024. Decades of conflict – including the 20-year war between the United States and the Taliban, as well as deep-rooted poverty and climate shocks, have caused the country’s cultural crisis. Last year, the United States provided 43% of all international humanitarian funding to Afghanistan. Rieveld said other NGOs are dealing with cutting funding to Afghanistan. “So, when we cut funds, more children will die from malnutrition.”
Children who come to feed the unit often walk and even crawl. Sometimes they cannot eat because they have no energy. All services are available for free, including three meals a day.
Lieveld said children need to be referred elsewhere, where the competence and technical knowledge are small.
Dr. Abdul Hamid Salehi said Afghan mother was facing a crisis. Levels of poverty among families mean that it is impossible to treat severely malnourished children in private clinics.
“People used to come to us in large quantities and they still hope and wait to find the fund again, or someone sponsors us so we can get back to our work and serve our patients again.”
