Funding Shortages Force WFP to Cut Food Rations for Millions in Afghanistan

The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) said in a statement issued late on Friday that it had to cut food rations for 4 million Afghans this month due to a lack of funding amid the country's severe humanitarian crisis.

"Due to funding constraints, at least four million people will receive half of what they need in March," the statement said, adding that the program urgently needs $93 million in funding to reach 13 million people in Afghanistan next April, according to Reuters.

Since the Taliban took over in 2021, the already impoverished country has plunged into an economic crisis, with foreign governments cutting development funding and imposing sanctions on the banking sector.

Some officials, including from the United Nations, have expressed fears that donors will withdraw from the country's massive humanitarian aid program after a series of restrictions on women imposed by the Taliban administration last year.

According to United Nations estimates, about 90 percent of Afghans cannot afford to eat.