Afghans face hunger crisis, adding to Taliban's challenges

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The U.N.'s stockpiles of food in Afghanistan could run out this month, a senior official warned Wednesday, threatening to add a hunger crisis to the challenges facing the country's new Taliban rulers as they endeavor to restore stability after decades of war.

About one third of the country's population of 38 million doesn't know if they will have a meal every day, according to Ramiz Alakbarov, the U.N.'s humanitarian chief in Afghanistan.

The U.N.'s World Food Program has brought in food and distributed it to tens of thousands of people in recent weeks, but with winter approaching and a drought ongoing, at least $200 million is needed urgently to be able to continue to feed the most vulnerable Afghans, he said.

“By the end of September, the stocks which the World Food Program has in the country will be out,” he told reporters at a virtual news conference. “We will not be able to provide those essential food items because we’ll be out of stocks.”

Earlier, U.N. officials said that of the $1.3 billion needed for overall aid efforts, only 39% has been received.

The Taliban, who seized control of the country ahead of the withdrawal of American forces this week, now must govern a nation that relies heavily on international aid and is in the midst of a worsening economic crisis. In addition to the concerns about food supplies, civil servants haven’t been paid in months and the local currency is losing value. Most of Afghanistan’s foreign reserves are held abroad and currently frozen.

Mohammad Sharif, a shopkeeper in the capital of Kabul, said that shops and markets there have supplies, but a major concern is rising food prices.

“If the situation continues like this and there is no government to control the prices, that will cause so many problems...