Two years since the Taliban returned to power in Kabul, international organization World Vision is declaring a new Sustained Humanitarian Response in Afghanistan.
National Director Asuntha Charles says: “International support for Afghans in the greatest need has fallen off a cliff, but we are committed to stay and deliver for Afghanistan’s children. Many are literally starving: they must have our support to fulfil their most basic needs and secure their most fundamental right: to life itself. While the international focus has been on egregious human rights violations, particularly affecting women and girls, the number of those in need of humanitarian assistance has increased from 24.4 to 29.2 million people. 15 million Afghans will face ‘crisis’ levels of food insecurity this year with 2.7 million in the ‘emergency’ category, the fourth highest figure in the world. This is the result of decades of conflict, the proliferating impacts of climate change, and a highly dysfunctional economy following international disengagement”.
Meanwhile, international support for Afghanistan has plummeted. Nearly US$3.8 billion in 2022 had dwindled to US$967 million at the start of August 2023.
National Director Asuntha Charles added: “The Taliban authorities have increasingly constrained the work of organisations, but even if their edicts were reversed, the resources provided by the international community fall desperately short of what is needed”.
Nevertheless, in the first half of this year alone, World Vision Afghanistan reached 1,160,914 of the most at-risk Afghans in western Afghanistan, including 605,156 women and girls and 557,160 children. Their work included health and nutrition provision, support for WASH, protection of vulnerable children and adults, and education support.
