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Food agency warns of hunger in Afghan conflict

Published:Thursday | August 19, 2021 | 3:49 PM
People sit in a German Bundeswehr airplane at the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, August 17, 2021, as the federal armed forces evacuate German citizens and local Afghans who worked for Germany. (Bundeswehr via AP)

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The head of the United Nations food agency in Afghanistan says a humanitarian crisis is unfolding with 14 million people facing severe hunger following the Taliban takeover of the country.

Mary Ellen McGroarty, the World Food Program's country director, said in a video briefing to UN correspondents from Kabul on Wednesday that the conflict in Afghanistan, the nation's second severe drought in three years, and the social and economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic have pushed an already dire situation into a “catastrophe.”

McGroarty said over 40% of crops have been lost and livestock devastated by the drought, hundreds of thousands of people were displaced as the Taliban advanced, and winter is fast approaching.

“Really the race is on to get food where it's most needed,” she said.

WFP reached four million people in May and plans to scale up to reach nine million “over the next couple of months, but there are many, many challenges,” she said.

McGroarty called for a halt to the conflict and urged donors to provide the $200 million needed to get food into the country so it can get to communities before winter sets in and roads are blocked.

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