Norwegian Refugee Council Warns of Severe Humanitarian Funding Shortage in Afghanistan
The Norwegian Refugee Council has announced that Afghanistan is among the countries receiving the least humanitarian funding this year and, for the first time, has been included in the council’s list of “forgotten crises.”
On Wednesday, June 30, the council issued a report warning that funding cuts are occurring while approximately 21.9 million people in Afghanistan urgently require humanitarian aid. Simultaneously, millions of people from neighboring countries are returning home, a process that increases pressure on the country’s limited internal resources.
Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, stated that reducing aid under these circumstances could have serious humanitarian consequences. He emphasized, “Donors must heed the warnings before millions more fall into hunger and despair.”
According to him, one of the primary reasons for the funding decrease has been the end of humanitarian support from the United States to Afghanistan. This development comes as the United Nations previously described Afghanistan’s situation as one of the world’s deepest humanitarian crises.
Humanitarian experts have repeatedly warned that ongoing restrictions, economic stagnation, and managerial challenges under Taliban rule have put millions of Afghans at risk of losing access to basic services. However, it remains unclear what practical steps the international community will take to prevent the crisis from worsening.
