Pak Sahafat – The United Nations World Food Program announced that it will reduce the food ration for the people of Afghanistan to two million people after the end of its financial resources, almost 20% of the people who are helped by the World Food Program are female heads of households, who are increasingly frustrated by social restrictions and the economic crisis.
According to Pak Sahafat News Agency’s report from Reuters, The director of the World Food Program (WFP) agency in Afghanistan has been forced to cut food rations to 2 million Afghanis due to limited funding and warns of a “disastrous” winter that will run out of funds or food for remote areas.
The reduction in quotas comes amid growing concern about reduced aid to Afghanistan, where the UN’s humanitarian response program is only about a quarter funded.
The World Food Program’s budget for food and cash aid is expected to run out by the end of October, and the agency has been forced to cut aid to 10 million Afghanis for the year.
Delivery of food to areas where access is cut off in winter is also limited. The director of this agency said: “If the necessary funds are not provided, 90 percent of remote areas will remain without food, and even in accessible places, people will not receive any food during the harsh winter.”
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Hsiao Wei Li, the country director of the World Food Program in Afghanistan, told Reuters: This is a disaster that we must prevent. About three quarters of the people of Afghanistan need humanitarian aid, the development aid that was the financial backbone of the Afghan government for years has been cut off, the current government has been sanctioned, and the assets of the Central Bank of Afghanistan have been frozen outside the country.
The Taliban’s restrictions on women, including preventing most female Afghan humanitarian workers from working, have hindered recognition and delayed aid, with many aid agencies turning their attention to other humanitarian crises.
“What I do when I interact with them is remind them that at the end of the day, we have to focus on those who need it the most,” Lee said of the donors. The cost of today’s inaction will ultimately reach the most vulnerable and poorest part of society, namely mothers and children.
About 20 percent of the people WFP helps are female heads of household, who Lee says are becoming more desperate every day because restrictions on women and the economic crisis mean they have fewer ways to earn money.
Lee said: The World Food Program needs one billion dollars in funding to provide food aid and implement planned projects until March.
Barai Baba Karim, a 45-year-old Kabul resident, says the cash he has received twice this year from the World Food Program has been a vital supplements to his less than $2 a day income, which he earns at a market with a pushcart.
He, who is a father of five children, said: “Now that the aid has ended, I am very worried about what will happen next.” I stay awake at night worrying about my children’s future.