WFP Afghanistan director on hunger 'tsunami'

(13 Jan 2022) The World Food Programme Director for Afghanistan said Thursday the country is facing its worst hunger crisis ever. In an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday, the WFP leader in Afghanistan, Mary-Ellen McGroarty said "an absolute tsunami of hunger" was sweeping Afghanistan, with eight out of nine families reducing their food intake and malnutrition affecting several children in the same family. According to the UN humanitarian organization, 22.8 million people face acute food shortages, including 8.7 million close to starvation. McGroarty urged the international community to separate political discussions from the humanitarian imperative by making sure the billions in aid that are required to avoid a disaster keep reaching the country, which is being run by the Taliban. McGroarty added that the UN agency hoped to reach 12 million people with food aid in January, but said that only represented 50% of the total number of people who are presently acutely food insecure. The United Nations on Tuesday launched its biggest ever appeal -- for over 5 billion US dollars to help 22 million Afghans whose country is on the brink of a humanitarian crisis and economic collapse as well as 5.7 million Afghan refugees in five neighbouring countries. The U.N. said the appeal will be followed by a pledging conference in mid-March. But a number of nations announced new funding, including an additional 308 million US dollars from the United States and 500,000 US dollars from Israel, and there were indications that more funds will be coming from other mainly Western nations. Afghanistan's aid-dependent economy was already stumbling when the Taliban seized power in mid-August amid a disorderly departure of U.S. and NATO troops. The international community froze Afghanistan's assets abroad and halted funding, unwilling to work with a Taliban government given its reputation for brutality during its previous rule 20 years ago. The Taliban leadership has banned all foreign currency transactions while urging the U.S. to ease sanctions and release Afghanistan’s overseas assets so the government can pay teachers, doctors and other public sector employees. Combined with the COVID-19 crisis and a drought, the shortage of money has had catastrophic consequences amid a dramatic surge of inflation, with the price of food going up by over 50 percent in the last couple of months. The International Refugee Committee has said its staff have seen a thirty fold increase in the severest form of child malnutrition between November and December in western Herat and a twofold increase in southeastern Khost. The organization, which has worked in Afghanistan since 1988 and now operates in nine provinces, said food prices have risen an estimated 10% to 20% compared with the past five years, and in December the cost of wheat, fuel and flour were almost 50% higher than in the last week of June. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...