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UN warns of pending food crisis in Afghanistan

Published:Wednesday | September 1, 2021 | 10:25 AM
Afghan families sit outside their tents in an open area on the outskirts of Chaman, a border town in Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province, Wednesday, September 1, 2021. Dozens of Afghan families have crossed into Pakistan through the southwestern Chaman border a day after the US wrapped up its 20-year military presence in the Taliban-controlled country. (AP Photo/Jafar Khan)

KABUL, Afghanistan — A senior United Nations official has warned that food in Afghanistan could run out this month, threatening to add a hunger crisis to the challenges facing the country's new Taliban rulers as they endeavour to restore stability after decades of war.

Ramiz Alakbarov said Wednesday that about one-third of the country's population of 38 million is facing “emergency” or “crisis” levels of food insecurity.

Alakbarov is the local UN humanitarian coordinator.

With winter coming and a severe drought ongoing, more money is needed to feed the population.

He said the UN's World Food Program has brought in food and distributed it to tens of thousands of people in recent weeks.

But of the $1.3 billion needed for aid efforts, only 39% has been received.

Alakbarov said: “Without additional funding, food stocks will run out at the end of September.”

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