Posted on 02 February 2022
Freezing aid is hurting the most vulnerable.
23 million people, more than half the population, face starvation and a million children may die, according to the latest data from the UN. Already 97 per cent do not have enough to eat.
“Afghanistan is hanging by a thread,” warned the UN secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, last week. You can watch his UN address here.
The country is suffering the worst drought in 30 years, a bitterly cold winter, an overnight end to foreign aid and all the work it brought, and the freezing of $9 billion of government assets, meaning it cannot pay salaries, writes Christina Lamb in The Times
Mary-Ellen McGroarty, country director for World Food Programme (WFP) warned of a ‘tsunami of hunger’ and said “It’s terrifying because of the scale of the crisis... If we don’t resuscitate the economy, humanitarian needs will escalate and 23 million starving will become 30 million.”