UN agency warns of ‘imminent’ famine in Afghanistan as winter approaches
- Natalia Kanem, director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), said the situation in the country was dire
- Harsh winters, disrupting the ability to transport supplies, plus the coronavirus pandemic will aggravate an already complicated situation, Kanem said
Afghanistan is at risk of “imminent hunger” with winter approaching and services disrupted by the return to power of the Taliban, a UN official warned in an interview with Agence France-Presse.
Natalia Kanem, director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), said via video that the situation in the country was dire.
“It would not be an exaggeration to say” that at least a third of Afghanistan’s population of around 33 million is affected by “imminent hunger,” Kanem warned.
Harsh winters, disrupting the ability to transport supplies to isolated areas of the mountainous country, plus the coronavirus pandemic will aggravate an already complicated situation, she added.
“There is a lot of anxiety over how we’re going to deliver health care, where the next meal is going to come from,” Kanem told Agence France-Presse from the UNFPA headquarters in New York.
