WorldAfghanistan Food Aid Halts as 14 Million Face Peak HungerAired August 16, 2026 at 6:50 AM UTCWritten September 7, 2026 at 9:22 PM UTCRead the write-upThis storyTranscript · LOADING0:00General food assistance in Afghanistan0:01[music]0:01has stopped completely in August at the0:04exact moment hunger is peaking with 140:06million people [music] acutely hungry.0:08Standard distributions are halted0:10because funding has collapsed leaving0:12the peak seasonal crisis without [music]0:14the system that ordinarily carries0:15families through it. Coverage has fallen0:17from about half the population fed in0:192022 [music]0:20to one in nine from January to July this0:22year to 10% or less now. Acute0:25malnutrition among women and children is0:27about 1 million higher than in 2021.0:29[music]0:30The year of the Taliban takeover. Yet0:31only one in seven acutely malnourished0:33women and children is being treated0:35[music] and six in seven are turned0:36away. At a health clinic a mother of0:38three named Sadika shows what that gap0:40means for families seeking care. The0:42strain is surfacing [music] beyond0:43clinics with distress and suicide0:45related calls to the hotline up 60% in0:48the last few months. Without new funding0:50[music] the program projects it could0:51reach only 10 to 15% of hungry people0:54for half the coming winter leaving the0:56peak to collide with the lean season and0:57raising the risk of famine.0:59>> Like and follow for more stories that1:01matter.Explore with HeyDexThe shortThe short ↗