Afghanistan Five Years After the Change of Power: Hunger is Rising, International Aid is Shrinking
Long-Term Support More Important Than Ever
Bonn/Berlin/Kabul, 5 August 2026. Some 17.4 million people in Afghanistan are facing acute hunger as international funding for humanitarian assistance continues to decline and long-term development programmes remain severely underfunded. Around 22 million people – nearly half the country's population – depend on humanitarian assistance.
Five years after the change of power in Kabul on 15 August 2021, the humanitarian crisis is increasingly fading from public attention. Recurrent droughts, floods and other impacts of the climate crisis are further exacerbating hunger. But the UN Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan for Afghanistan is currently only funded at around 25 per cent. In addition, millions of returnees are putting both social and economic pressure on the country.
"Hunger is not simply the result of a lack of food. Families are increasingly losing the means to earn an income and provide for themselves. At the same time, the population has grown rapidly with six million people returning since 2023 – many of them from Pakistan and Iran – while the already fragile economy is unable to create sufficient jobs. These crises reinforce one another, pushing more and more families into poverty and hunger," warns Jaclyn Dolski, WHH's Director of Programs in Afghanistan.
The climate crisis is hitting rural communities particularly hard. "It hardly rains anymore. Many people harvest less and are losing their livestock and grazing land. At the same time, food prices continue to rise. More and more people no longer know how they will feed themselves and their families," says Farzaneh Nasimi*, a WHH staff member based in Kabul.
Women and girls are among those most affected. They remain largely excluded from secondary and higher education, many professions and large parts of public life. "The main driver of hunger is unemployment. Only half of society is able to work, while women are excluded. This not only deprives them of future opportunities but also deepens the economic hardship faced by many families," stresses Zarah Amiri*, a WHH staff member from central Afghanistan.
Declining international funding is making the situation even worse. Humanitarian organisations are increasingly forced to prioritise emergency relief while scaling back longer-term programmes. The consequences are already becoming evident. According to the Food Security and Agriculture Cluster (FSAC), around 2.8 million highly vulnerable people did not receive the life-saving food assistance that had been planned during the first half of the year. At the same time, long-term programmes supporting smallholder farmers have been significantly reduced. Millions of people will not receive seeds or fertiliser for the next planting season. Yet investments in climate-resilient agriculture, water management and local markets are essential to help communities become self-reliant and break the cycle of dependency.
"Afghanistan still needs international support – not only to address immediate humanitarian needs. It is equally important to restore livelihoods, strengthen agriculture against the impacts of the climate crisis and support communities in rebuilding their futures. If donors fund only the most urgent emergency assistance today, they risk leaving even more people dependent on aid tomorrow," says Jaclyn Dolski.
Welthungerhilfe (WHH) in Afghanistan
WHH has been supporting people in Afghanistan since 1980 and has maintained its own country programme since 1992. Together with Afghan partner organisations, WHH combines humanitarian assistance with long-term programmes that strengthen food security and livelihoods. These include climate-resilient agriculture, water and irrigation management, income generation, nutrition and the development of local markets.
*For security reasons, the names of our national female staff members have been changed.
Welthungerhilfe is one of the largest private aid organizations in Germany; it is politically independent and non-denominational. With courage and determination, it is striving for a world without hunger. Since it was founded on December 14, 1962, 13,424 overseas projects in about 72 countries and territories have been supported with 5.76 billion euros. Welthungerhilfe follows the principle of empowering people to help themselves to sustainably improve their living conditions, through approaches ranging from fast disaster relief to reconstruction and long-term development cooperation projects with national and international partner organizations.
