KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) – For 10 hours a day, Rahimullah sells socks from his cart in eastern Kabul, earning about $4.5 to $6 a day. It is bad, but it is all he has to feed his family of five.
Rahimullah, who like many Afghans has only one name, is one of millions of Afghans who depend on humanitarian aid, both from the Afghan authorities and international charities, for survival. An estimated 22.9 million people – almost half the population – would need aid in 2025, the International Committee of the Red Cross said in an article on its website on Monday.
But sharp cuts in international aid — including the halting of US aid to programs such as food distribution run by the United Nations World Food Program — cut off this lifeline.
More than 17 million people in Afghanistan now face crisis levels of hunger in the winter, the World Food Program warned last week, 3 million more than were at risk more than a year ago.
The cuts in aid come as Afghanistan is battered by a struggling economy, recurring droughts, two deadly earthquakes and the mass influx of Afghan refugees driven out by countries such as Iran and Pakistan. The resulting multiple shocks put a huge strain on resources, including housing and food.
The UN appeals for help
Tom Fletcher, the UN humanitarian chief, told the Security Council in mid-December that the situation was exacerbated by “overlapping shocks”, including the recent earthquakes and increasing restrictions on access to humanitarian aid and personnel.
While Fletcher said that nearly 22 million Afghans will need UN assistance in 2026, his organization will focus on 3.9 million who are facing the most urgent need for life-saving assistance due to reduced donor contributions.
Fletcher said this winter was “the first in years with almost no international distribution of food.”
“As a result, only about 1 million of the most vulnerable people received food assistance during the lean season in 2025,” compared to 5.6 million last year, he said.
The year has been devastating for UN humanitarian organisations, which have had to cut thousands of jobs and spending following cuts in aid.
“We are grateful to all of you who have continued to support Afghanistan. But as we look to 2026, we risk further cuts in life-saving aid – at a time when food insecurity, health needs, strain on basic services, and protection risks are all increasing,” Fletcher said.
Returning refugees
The return of millions of refugees has increased the pressure on an already shaky system. The Minister of Refugees and Repatriation Affairs Abdul Kabir said on Sunday that 7.1 million Afghan refugees have returned to the country during the last four years, according to a statement on the ministry’s website.
Rahimullah, 29, was one of them. The former Afghan Army soldier fled to neighboring Pakistan after the Taliban seized power in 2021. He was deported back to Afghanistan two years later, and initially received aid in the form of cash as well as food.
“The assistance was helping me a lot,” he said. But without it, “now I don’t have enough money to live. God willing, if I were to face a serious illness or some other problem, it would be very difficult for me to deal with it because I don’t have extra money for expenses.”
The massive influx of ex-refugees has also driven up rents. Rahimullah’s landlord almost doubled the rent on his tiny two-room house, with walls made of half concrete and half mud and a homemade mud stove for cooking. Instead of 4,500 afghani (about $67), he now wants 8,000 afghani (about $120) – a sum Rahimullah cannot afford. So he, his wife, daughter and two small boys will have to move next month. They don’t know where.
Before the Taliban takeover, Rahimullah had a decent salary and his wife worked as a teacher. But the new government’s draconian restrictions on women and girls mean women are barred from almost all jobs, and his wife is unemployed.
“Now the situation is such that even if we find money for flour, we don’t have it for oil, and even if we find it for oil, we can’t pay the rent. And then there is the extra electricity bill,” Rahimullah said.
Harsh winters cause misery
In Badakhshan province in northern Afghanistan, Sherin Gul is desperate. In 2023, her family of 12 got supplies of flour, oil, rice, beans, legumes, salt and biscuits. It was a life saver.
But it only lasted six months. Now, there is nothing. Her husband is old and weak and cannot work, she said. With 10 children, seven girls and three boys between the ages of 7 and 27, the burden of providing for the family fell on her 23-year-old son – the only one old enough to work. But even he only finds occasional jobs.
“There are 12 of us … and one working person cannot cover the expenses,” she said. “We’re in big trouble.”
Sometimes the neighbors take pity on them and give them food. Often, they all go hungry.
“There were times when we had nothing to eat at night, and my little children slept without food,” said Gul. “I only gave them green tea and they fell asleep crying.”
Before the Taliban takeover, Gul worked as a cleaner, earning enough to feed her family. But the ban on women working left her unemployed, and she said she developed a nervous disorder and is often ill.
The bitter cold of the northern Afghan winter, when the snow stops the construction work, where her son can sometimes find a job, adds to their misery. And there is the added cost of firewood and coal.
“If this situation continues like this, we may face a severe famine,” said Gul. “And then it will be very difficult for us to live in this cold weather.”
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Associated Press writers Farnoush Amiri in the United Nations, Jamey Keaten in Geneva and Elena Becatoros in Athens contributed to this report.