UN Warning: Stop Conflicts as Afghanistan’s Humanitarian Crisis Deepens

DID Press: World Food Programme (WFP) has warned that escalating violence along Afghanistan’s eastern, southern, and western borders is further deepening the country’s humanitarian crisis.

In a statement released Wednesday (March 4), the UN agency said Afghanistan is already facing one of the world’s most severe food crises — a situation now exacerbated by insecurity and renewed displacement.

According to John Aylieff, WFP’s representative in Afghanistan, fighting has flared up in areas where communities were already living in critical conditions. He noted that following airstrikes attributed to Pakistan in eastern and southern border regions, around 20,000 people have been displaced, while more than 17 million people across Afghanistan urgently require food assistance to survive.

At the same time, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) expressed deep concern over intensifying hostilities along the Afghanistan–Pakistan border. Based on preliminary figures, it reported that 42 civilians were killed and around 100 others injured in recent airstrikes.

UNAMA stressed the need for maximum restraint by all parties and called for full respect of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, emphasizing that dialogue remains the only sustainable path to reducing tensions and preventing further deterioration of Afghanistan’s humanitarian situation.