The new cutoffs in U.S. emergency food aid could worsen the already widespread hunger in Afghanistan, as the World Food Program (WFP) can only support half of the impoverished people with just half rations, warned the WFP on Saturday.
As part of its plan to reduce government deficits, Trump’s administration decided in January to freeze all foreign aid for three months, and more recently, to terminate its emergency food funding to the WFP.
The latest cut, according to the WFP, is amounting to “a death sentence for millions of people” if implemented.
Mutinta Chimuka, WFP’s acting country director, urged international donors to keep supporting Afghanistan, as the country is facing the world’s second-largest humanitarian crisis.
According to Chimuka, the agency can provide assistance to barely eight million people this year. Chimuka said that is an estimation based on its optimistic anticipation that “we get everything else that we are expecting from other donors”.
To stretch the limited resources, the WFP has been giving a half ration to the impoverished individuals, she added.
The WFP plans to provide food assistance to two million people to fight against hunger in the future months, but Chimuka expressed her worries given the limited funding.
