The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has suspended emergency food aid to nearly 160,000 people in Afghanistan due to escalating clashes with Pakistan along the border. The suspension, announced on Thursday, affects emergency, social protection, school feeding and livelihood activities across ten provinces, including Kunar, Nangarhar and Khost.
The renewed conflict, now in its seventh day, has seen airstrikes and ground clashes impacting 46 districts. At least four of the affected provinces are facing critical levels of malnutrition, while more than half of the districts are experiencing emergency levels of hunger, the WFP warned.
“Communities in mountainous Kunar and Nangarhar provinces, already among the most vulnerable, were the hardest-hit by last year’s earthquake,” said WFP country director John Aylieff. “Today, those very same communities are once again on the front line, now facing the escalation of conflict with Pakistan.”
The violence erupted after Pakistan conducted airstrikes on what it claimed were terrorist facilities inside Afghanistan. Afghanistan retaliated, leading to cross-border firefights. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan reported at least 42 civilians killed and 104 wounded since 26 February. Pakistan claims its troops killed more than 430 Afghan soldiers but has not commented on civilian casualties.
Pakistan’s army chief, General Asim Munir, stated on Wednesday that peace with Afghanistan depends on the Taliban severing ties with insurgents targeting Pakistan. He warned that Islamabad would take “all necessary measures” against threats from across the border, calling the use of Afghan territory for attacks “unacceptable”.
