United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced on Thursday that the U.N. is working towards donating $4.4 billion to the people of Afghanistan as most of the people do not have the proper amount of food to eat, according to the Associated Press.
The food crisis in Afghanistan has been ongoing and getting increasingly worse since the Taliban took over the country in August 2021.
There are roughly 23 million Afghans currently dealing with acute food insecurity, according to the U.N.
After some senior U.N. officials visited Afghanistan over the past few weeks, the agency is asking the world to pay attention and help the people in desperate need.
"Wealthy, powerful countries cannot ignore the consequences of their decisions on the most vulnerable," Guterres said. "Some 95% of people do not have enough to eat, and 9 million people are at risk of famine."
He went on to say that "immediate action" is needed to help Afghans, as people are becoming desperate to do anything they can to get food.
"Without immediate action we face a starvation and malnutrition crisis in Afghanistan," Guterres said. "People are already selling their children and their body parts in order to feed their families."
The United States will donate $204 million to the U.N. to help the food crisis in Afghanistan, according to Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. While the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that 41 different countries agreed to donate a combined total of $2.4 billion of the $4.4 billion goal on Thursday.
"This humanitarian aid, like all aid from the United States, will go directly to NGOs and the United Nations," Thomas-Greenfield said. "The Taliban will not control our humanitarian funding."
Due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, food prices around the world have increased, especially simple things like wheat and corn. Russia and Ukraine produce and export a large amount of the world's supply of wheat and corn, but since the invasion began, prices have been greatly affected.
Martin Griffiths, head of OCHA, acknowledged the humanitarian crisis going on in the Ukraine, but added that the people of Afghanistan are in just as much need.
"Ukraine is of vital importance, but Afghanistan, you know, calls to our soul for commitment and loyalty," Griffiths said. "In simple terms, the humanitarian program that we are appealing for is to save lives."
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