Over 17 million people in Afghanistan are expected to face crisis-level hunger through the coming winter, an increase of 3 million from last year, according to the U.N. and the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC). Contributing factors include economic hardship, recurrent drought, reduced international aid, and the return of over 2.5 million Afghans from Iran and Pakistan. Nearly 4 million children are acutely malnourished, with 1 million requiring hospital treatment. Food assistance is reaching only 2.7% of the population, worsening the crisis. Of those at risk, 4.7 million could face emergency-level food insecurity. An improvement is expected with the spring harvest starting in April 2026.
