KABUL (Pajhwok): The World Food Program (WFP) says 8.7 million people in Afghanistan are facing famine and nearly 23 million more are starving, but the organization plans to assist 23 million Afghans next year.
The remarks were made today in Kabul by Mary Ellen, WFP's Afghanistan director. She said that during the last one month, while visiting different parts of Afghanistan, she had witnessed severe conditions of hunger and malnutrition.
"The current situation in Afghanistan is deteriorating due to the drought, economic sanctions imposed on the country and past wars," Allen said.
According to her, currently 22.8 million people in Afghanistan are suffering from severe hunger and these people make up more than 50% of the country's population and 8.7 million people are facing famine.
According to Mary Allen, 3.2 million children are diagnosed with malnutrition each year, one million people die from malnutrition and the number of such cases is on the rise.
"I saw people in poverty. I talked to farmers who had lost their crops and many unemployed men who had nothing to feed their families," she said.
According to Allen, in view of this situation, the World Food Program (WFP) has drastically increased its aid operations, reaching out to about 15 million people in need thus year and will assist 23 million people next year.
After the new government was formed in Afghanistan about four months ago, the United States froze nearly $10 billion in Afghan capital and imposed other sanctions on Afghanistan, leaving Afghans in dire economic straits.
However, the World Bank announced yesterday that donor countries had agreed to provide $280 million from frozen funds to Afghanistan through the Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF).
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