The UN has warned that millions of people in Afghanistan are facing severe food insecurity as winter progresses

more than 17 million people afghanistan The leading international authority on the hunger crisis and the UN food aid agency warned on Tuesday that people were facing crisis levels of hunger in the coming winter months.

The number at risk is nearly 3 million higher than a year ago.

Economic crisis, frequent droughts, declining international aid and inflows afghan returning home from neighboring countries iran And Pakistan This has put pressure on resources and increased pressure on food security, according to the report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, known as IPC, which tracks the hunger crisis.

“The IPC tells us that more than 17 million people in Afghanistan are facing severe food insecurity. That’s 3 million more than last year,” Jean-Martin Bauer, director of food security at the U.N. World Food Programme, told reporters. geneva,

“Nearly 4 million children are in a state of severe malnutrition,” he said via video from Rome. “About 1 million are severely malnourished, and these are the children who really need hospital treatment.”

The IPC report said food aid in Afghanistan is only reaching 2.7% of the population – due to a weak economy, high unemployment and low inflows of remittances from abroad – as more than 2.5 million people have returned from Iran and Pakistan this year.

The report said more than 17 million people, or more than a third of the population, are set to face crisis levels of food insecurity in the four-month period to March 2026. Of those, 4.7 million may face emergency levels of food insecurity.

The IPC estimates that the spring crop season is expected to improve starting in April.

The United Nations last week warned of a “severe” and “unsustainable” crisis in the country as Afghanistan enters winter for the first time in years without US foreign aid and almost no international food deliveries.

UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher told the Security Council on Wednesday that the situation has worsened due to “overlapping shocks”, including recent deadly earthquakes and increasing restrictions on humanitarian aid access and staff.

While Fletcher said some 22 million Afghans will need UN assistance in 2026, his organization will focus on the 3.9 million facing the most immediate need for life-saving assistance in light of low donor contributions.