Situation overview

The recent economic collapse, brought about by the withdrawal of development assistance and the imposition of financial sanctions in the wake of the Taliban takeover, has further complicated an extremely challenging operational context. Forty years of war and insecurity, chronic poverty, two extremely severe successive droughts, and the COVID-19 pandemic had already had a devastating impact on the people of Afghanistan. Now, with the freezing winter upon them, the country is confronting the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, with around 20 million facing food insecurity and 6 million at risk of famine. The situation is only set to worsen, with the country slipping into an even more devastating economic and humanitarian disaster.

Afghanaid’s response

Following the collapse of the Government in August 2021, we immediately focused our efforts on negotiating safe access for our teams in the provinces we operate in, and were quickly able to re-open all of our offices across the country and bring both men and women back to work.

We conducted a robust review of the most urgent needs facing communities at this time of grave humanitarian crisis and have continued to monitor the situation as it has developed. 

Our review suggested that the most effective course of action in responding to the current crises would be a two-stage approach: 

1. providing immediate, life-saving support by distributing urgently needed cash and in-kind assistance to the most needy people 
2. followed by supporting people and communities through longer-term activities to enable them to recover and rebuild their lives.

The impact of our supporters

This year alone, your generosity has helped us to raise over £1.1 million from the public. This money has allowed us to greatly scale up our humanitarian assistance to support people in Afghanistan to get through this difficult time. Thank you!

Thanks to your support, since August 2021, Afghanaid has so far reached over 1.7 million men, women, boys and girls with humanitarian assistance.

Stage 1 has included activities such as distributing:

• Food packages to some 352,490 families, providing enough food for 4 months to get them through the winter. These food packages include things like flour, rice, pulses, oil, and other essentials.
• 2 months’ worth of soya-based supplementary food to treat malnutrition for over 85,879 babies and young children from 6 months to 5 years old.
• Cash for work and cash for vital household essentials to over 17,716 families, and multi-purpose cash to 2,157 vulnerable households.
• Emergency shelter and household kits including heating, cooking and hygiene equipment for 3,583 families.
• Wheat seed, vegetable and fertiliser as well as training sessions on agricultural best practices to 33,479 farmers including 2,350 at-risk women.

Looking ahead

Thanks to our supporters, we have also been able to plan ahead. This means that in the coming months we will be reaching over hundreds of thousands of additional men, women and children with emergency humanitarian assistance. 

Thanks to you, we will be able to continue our emergency response, as well as working with communities to recover, rebuild their lives and strengthen their resilience to face future crises. 

There are still enormous challenges ahead for Afghanistan. Alongside the UN and a network of other NGOs, we are doing everything we can to save lives and help people get through this winter, but the challenges are long term and will require sustained support. We hope that those who have responded so generously to the present crisis will not forget Afghanistan in the years to come. 

How can you help?

Over the coming months, Afghans will need more support than ever to get through the harsh winter and rebuild their lives come spring. By setting up a regular gift, no matter how small or large, you will be providing reliable support and standing by Afghans in this difficult time:

Set up a monthly gift