By Ray Furlong and Omid Marzban
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
August 18, 2025

Kabul residents have told RFE/RL that they are begging for rice and “ready to accept death,” as the World Food Program (WFP) said it was “turning hundreds of thousands of people away” from nutrition centers.

WFP Country Director John Aylieff said drought, dramatic aid cuts, and the forced return of 1.5 million Afghans from Iran and Pakistan had combined to create “rising acute malnutrition” in the poverty-stricken country.

“We need to do everything we can to avoid famine,” he told RFE/RL. “It could be unprecedented because during the winter, there could be 10 to 15 million people needing food assistance. And at the moment, we have no funding and there will be no response.”

For the coming six months, the WFP in Afghanistan said it requires nearly $539 million for all programs to reach the most vulnerable families across the country.

But multiple donors have slashed contributions. For 2025, the WFP in Afghanistan said it received some $155 million. This compares with nearly $560 million the year before, and nearly $1.6 billion in 2022.

“The US has been a phenomenally generous donor in Afghanistan for decades, providing the lion’s share of humanitarian assistance, along with other generous donors from around the world,” Aylieff said.

“Now is not the moment for anyone to reduce or walk away.”

RFE/RL has asked the White House for comment. In his first few months in office, President Donald Trump cut more than 7,400 foreign aid programs globally worth $80 billion, according to a report published last month by Senate Democrats.

A State Department spokesman told RFE/RL on August 4 that “over the last approximately four years, foreign assistance intended for the people of Afghanistan was systematically diverted and expropriated by the Taliban — a Specially Designated Global Terrorist group.”

Nearly four years since their takeover of Afghanistan, “it is due time that the Taliban provide for the welfare of the Afghan people,” the spokesman added.

‘Ready To Accept Death’

The situation has devastating results for people like 42-year-old Kabul resident Gul Dasta. She used to work as a cleaner at the Labor and Social Affairs Ministry. When the Taliban seized power in August 2021, they announced a ban on women working in government offices, and she was fired.

Dasta’s husband has severe diabetes and cannot work. The couple have a 9-year-old son and two daughters, aged 14 and 16. They have not received an international food aid package for five months.

“There have been days that we had nothing to eat. I have boiled some rice that I begged from the neighbors and fed my children with. Every day in life is so difficult. There have been days that I cried all day,” she told RFE/RL in a phone interview.

Another Kabul resident we spoke to broke down in tears during the call.

Abeda, 54, is a widow who lives with her 15-year-old son, 26-year-old widowed daughter, and two grandchildren. She was a cleaner at a girls’ high school until the Taliban closed it as part of a campaign against education for females.

“Last Thursday I had nothing at home. Not even potatoes or tomatoes. I hated my life. Life is full of pain and trouble. Last Thursday I was even ready to accept death,” she said, during an interview on August 11.

Turning People Away

Aylieff said the situation was even worse in rural areas, where some 400 clinics providing nutrition had closed down due to lack of funds.

“The result of that is that we’re turning hundreds of thousands of people away,” he said.

“Sometimes they would have to walk for five hours to a clinic, the nearest one. Imagine the anguish of showing up and finding the clinic is closed.”

Aylieff added that the WFP was currently able to provide food to around 1 million people, compared to 5 million a year ago. But it will soon run out of money, he said, meaning food assistance will stop “almost completely” by October.

Taliban officials have largely avoided public comment on the hunger crisis, instead making vague remarks blaming foreign actors for the country’s general economic hardships.

For example, a statement by the Economy Ministry back in February said, “In addition to the financial and economic sanctions imposed by the United States, the freezing of assets has affected Afghanistan’s national economy.”

RFE/RL has been unable to operate freely in Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power.

Copyright (c) 2025. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.