Nearly half of the country’s 40 million people needed humanitarian assistance. More than half of all children under age 5 were likely to face acute malnutrition. Over 1,600 civilians were killed and more than 3,000 injured in the first half of the year.  Since 15 August, things have only gotten worse. Here are nine facts you need to know about the situation in Afghanistan now.  1. Millions have fled their homes  “We had no time to gather anything. We fled with only a blanket,” says Maryam, 24, an internally displaced Afghan woman in Mazar-e Sharif. She is one of more than half a million people who, since the beginning of the year, have fled their homes due to escalating violence.   Afghans already constituted one of the world’s largest refugee populations worldwide, says UNHCR, with more than five million people in protracted displacement since 2012.  UNHCR and partners are assisting newly displaced Afghans with life-saving shelter, food, water, and other items, both within Afghanistan and in neighbouring countries.   2. An economic crisis is looming Afghanistan faces an economic crisis caused in part by the sudden withdrawal of large-scale development assistance, lack of access to cash, and reduced overseas remittances.   Prices are soaring, and more than 12 million people are facing food insecurity, with many of them selling their belongings and borrowing money to buy food.   The World Food Programme (WFP) and partners are continuing to deliver nationwide, reaching more than 5.5 million people in October alone. In 2022, WFP plans to serve the food and nutrition needs of almost 23 million people in Afghanistan. 3. Health care is on the verge of collapse Afghanistan has made significant health gains over the last 20 years. Now that progress is at risk, as millions of people have lost access to basic health services.  Medicines, medical supplies and fuel are running out across the country. Cold chains for vaccines are compromised. Nurses and doctors are not being paid.   Cuts in donor support have left thousands of health facilities without fundingand essential medicines, forcing health providers to make hard decisions on who to save and who to let die.   On 22 September, UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths released US$45 million from the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund to help prevent Afghanistan’s health-care system from falling apart. But much more support is needed.  4. Schools have reopened… but not for everyone In September, secondary schools reopened in Afghanistan following months of pandemic-related closures. Sadly, only boys were allowed to attend. Girls were left behind. This is a reversal of the great strides in education, especially for girls, that the country had made in the past two decades.  "We've got around one million high school-age girls sitting at home, denied their right to an education,” Samantha Mort of UNICEF Afghanistan told UN News.  “If children are not in school, they're much more likely to be recruited by an armed group, or to fall into early marriage or to be exploited in some way.” “There's no childhood” these days in Afghanistan, says Mort. “It's all about survival.”   5. Women’s and girls’ rights are at risk The recent crisis has affected everyone in Afghanistan, but women and girls bear the consequences the most. Their rights and freedom of movement have been curtailed, and women’s rights, including to education, work and holding public office, are in danger of being rolled back.    Restricting women’s involvement in the workforce, including in humanitarian activities, will directly impact the ability of women and girls to access critical services.  Their experience, capacities and leadership are invaluable for peace and security in Afghanistan.  6. A fourth wave of the pandemic is possible Afghanistan has just emerged from the peak of a third wave of COVID-19.  Before August of this year, 2.2 million people had been vaccinated against COVID-19, barely more than a quarter of the vaccination target for 2021.  Now, nine of the country’s 37 COVID-19 hospitals have already closed and all aspects of the pandemic response have slowed down, including surveillance, testing and vaccinations, causing fears of a fourth wave of the disease.   WHO is boosting the COVID-19 response, testing capacity in the country, airlifting over 50 000 COVID-19 tests that are currently being distributed to 32 laboratories across the country. Some 150,000 more COVID-19 tests are in the pipeline and will be delivered in the next months.   7. Drought is causing continued hardship Afghanistan is facing its second drought in four years, affecting one third of the country. That’s dire news for the seventy per cent of all Afghans who live in rural areas and rely on agriculture for food and income.   The drought has pushed poor families to rely on child labour, early and forced marriage, and risky irregular migration. It has also led to a water scarcity crisis, which will further increase sanitation and hygiene needs.  FAO has scaled up its emergency assistance, providing animal feed, seeds and fertilizer for the winter wheat-planting season. FAO is also providing training on wheat cultivation and sustainable livestock management to build resilience for the future.  This assistance aims to protect agricultural livelihoods and support 3.3 million people until the end of the year. 8. We are still here Staying and delivering means reaching affected people in Afghanistan, wherever they are, with vital assistance.  Day and night, the UN is working with humanitarians, including local teams, to provide food, water, health care, education, protection and livelihood assistance. To continue this work, the international community must honour its promises and provide urgent and flexible cash funding that can be distributed quickly and allow humanitarians to help those in need. “The people of Afghanistan must not pay the price of collective failures. They deserve a normal life in peace and dignity,” says Dr. Ramiz Alakbarov, UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in Afghanistan. “We will spare no effort to respond to the needs of all women, men, and children in Afghanistan.”  9. Winter is coming The struggles and human suffering of millions of Afghans will be exacerbated by the harsh winter, which is only a few weeks away. Plummeting temperatures will lead to an increase in acute respiratory infections and deaths.  Providing winter assistance early will be a lifeline for millions. Many families, particularly those who live in open spaces or tented camps, will need warm clothes and shelter to fend off the bitter cold.  The world’s attention to Afghanistan may soon subside, but the plight of the Afghan people will continue. But we will not abandon the people of Afghanistan. We will not abandon the country’s people. We will not abandon ethnic minorities. We will not abandon women and girls.  How you can help  The Afghanistan Flash Appeal seeks $606 million to provide immediate life-saving assistance for 11 million Afghans for the remainder of this year. Despite the global attention to the country’s dire situation, little funding has been received on the ground. We ask donors to fast-track funding to prevent a further humanitarian catastrophe in Afghanistan.  To donate to the crisis, visit the dedicated donation webpage.  Article was adapted from the originally published article on the OCHA website. Composed and editorial support by Ahmed Ben Lassoued and Paul VanDeCarr, Development Coordination Office.    

*Names and places have been changed. “I particularly enjoy seeing farmers or herders smile when they receive agricultural inputs like feed or seeds; I feel calm and fulfilled,” says Ahmady, a humanitarian who works for one of FAO’s NGO implementing partners on the ground in Afghanistan. Ahmady is passionate about his job. He has been doing this in his country for the last 15 years. Currently, he is coordinating the implementation of two FAO projects that are assisting farmers and herders affected by drought, reaching out to over 10 000 families with lifesaving support to protect their agricultural livelihoods. FAO is in the midst of scaling up its emergency assistance, providing agricultural inputs like animal feed, seeds and fertilizers for the winter wheat planting season. FAO is also providing specific agronomic training on wheat cultivation and sustainable livestock management to make the most out of the inputs and build resilience for the future. This assistance aims to protect agricultural livelihoods and support 3.3 million people until the end of the year. 80 percent of the Afghan population depends directly or indirectly on agriculture for their livelihoods. “Emergency projects are extremely difficult to implement because they are carried out in the most insecure, remote and deprived areas; however, I enjoy working in the field and with communities, particularly vulnerable and poor families,” states the Afghan humanitarian worker, who has a master’s degree in agriculture. The expertise of implementing partners and local humanitarian workers is invaluable in calibrating emergency assistance to the on-the-ground needs of affected communities. Together with FAO teams in the region, implementing partners help the Organization keep its finger on the pulse of the situation for Afghan communities living in remote rural areas. As some workers were evacuated in August, and management and administrative systems have been disrupted, it is people like Ahmady who are ensuring the local delivery of much-needed humanitarian assistance to farmers and herders. A challenging job Humanitarian work is challenging by nature, and Ahmady’s job is not getting any easier. Workers undertake their activities in areas particularly affected by poverty and widespread food insecurity. Needs are typically far greater than the humanitarian resources available to assist people in these areas. As many FAO projects in Afghanistan are implemented in remote areas, humanitarians must sleep overnight in the only accommodation available, government-offered district guesthouses, “which can be extremely dangerous because there is always the possibility of suffering an attack,” explains Ahmady, a husband and father of five children. Before the collapse of the government in August 2021, “our commuting had become very difficult due to armed clashes. The security officers along the road changed every day; the new officers didn’t know us, and they were frequently performing body checks and even searching our phones," says Ahmady. On one occasion, an armed clash broke out at the District Centre where food, tools and other relief items are distributed. The Centre fell multiple times to both sides with control of the Centre changing from day to day, but fortunately, Ahmady says, the animal feed stored there was respected by both sides and left untouched. Changing rules Uncertain rules regarding programme delivery by female aid workers are greatly complicating efforts to reach female beneficiaries, Ahmady says. Things have become even more complicated as only women can survey other women in the beneficiary selection process. Yet, though “the majority of our beneficiaries are women," says Ahmady, “our female colleagues have not been permitted since the new de facto authorities took over.” In other areas of the country, women have however been able to continue with their humanitarian work. In Ahmady’s area, some agencies have gotten verbal permission for women to come back to work, but there is no official permit issued by the de facto authorities yet. The change in the administration has also led to bureaucratic issues. “Since the former governors abandoned the district and fled abruptly, [beneficiary] distribution lists previously elaborated started being rejected,” says Ahmady. The humanitarian worker has so far managed to overcome all these issues to distribute FAO’s assistance. An uncertain future As uncertainty reigns in Afghanistan, Ahmady worries about the future. “It is unclear what will happen. Making decisions about the future is quite tough.” Workers, like beneficiaries, are taking things day by day to see what is in store. Ahmady wishes he could at least return to football, a hobby that kept him happy and active. But work is too intense at the moment: “I have not worn any sporting clothes in more than two months.” He hopes that this, and much more, changes in the days upcoming.

“With Afghanistan, it was love at first sight,” Susana Rico, a World Food Programme (WFP) veteran who is now heading the organization’s newly opened office in Venezuela, recalls the days when she landed in Kabul on her first field assignment, as Deputy Country Director. It was 2002 and a new government was being formed. When asked what made her fall in love, Rico is adamant: “It’s the resilience of the people. Even after 20 years of war, they still had hope.” As she stepped off the plane, still on the airport tarmac, she was told she would be officer in charge as the Country Director was away. “It did not hit me,” Rico says, “I just took it one day at a time.” Finding herself in charge of WFP’s largest operation at the time, with 1,200 staff, 600 trucks and an extremely complex pipeline – further complicated by a tortuous road network and infrastructure shattered by two decades of war – was not easy. “My learning curve was like climbing a grease pole,” she says, laughing.  But years of poring over documents in her role at the organization’s Executive Board meant she “knew every policy, every mechanism”. That, combined with support from long-serving staff, meant she quickly got to grips with the ins and outs of the operation.  “What I am most proud of is the impact we had on education,” Rico says. As schools started to open up to girls, WFP started giving their parents a can of oil as an extra incentive on top of the regular 50 kg bag of wheat handed out to all schoolchildren. “In a country where the birth of boys was celebrated while girls were considered a burden, this started making girls valuable.” It was a small, incremental paradigm shift. “Families would see the financial benefit of educating their girls, who, as a result, would learn to read and write.” Having previously worked in the Population Division in the UN’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Rico knew that this could set off a virtuous circle. “The education of girls is a determinant factor for a country’s development,” she explains. “A girl who has an education is a powerful tool for change. She will likely have fewer children, and fewer children means they’ll have better chances of surviving and better prospects in life. By the third year of doing this, you can really change a country’s demography – and we were making this happen in Afghanistan.” I had a UN career – and then I became a humanitarian It can only be hoped that the progress made was not in vain, given latest developments in the country and concerns for its future. WFP continues to deliver across all 34 Afghan provinces despite the challenges. Rico was not a natural born humanitarian. She joined the UN in New York as a typist at the age of 28 to pay her way through college. “I was a very good typist,” she jokes – her trademark laughter, which she describes as her “resilience mechanism”, breaking out again. Her work, her studies and her inquisitive mind set her off on a UN career. “But it was only after I joined WFP and learned about its work that I became a humanitarian.”  After leaving Afghanistan – “I would have stayed on another 10 years, if asked”, she says – Rico worked in a number of WFP programmes across different continents, including complex emergencies and conflict-torn countries. Whether it is Afghanistan, Niger, the Democratic Republic of the Congo or her new duty station in Venezuela, “knowing that what you do is having an impact on people’s lives is a feeling that moves you from the gut,” she says. “You feel you can do things. You begin to see the areas where you can make a difference. And that’s an incredibly powerful motivator – to get up in the morning and know you can make somebody’s life better.” Referencing the four principles that drive humanitarian action – humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence – she says: “To me, humanity is embedded in everything we do.” To these principles, Rico adds a special ingredient of her own: humility.  “We offer assistance, not impose it. We negotiate access, not demand it. Whether it’s governments or other parties, we must never come across as arrogant, as that creates frictions and can put our very colleagues at risk, especially in conflict situations. If you rub a war lord against the grain, you don’t know what the consequences might be,” she says.  As the anniversary of WFP’s Nobel Peace Prize approaches, Rico reflects on her experience in war-ravaged countries. “There are things we can do to improve the lives of people living through conflict. But the decision to start and feed those conflicts is well above their heads – and ours. Think of Afghanistan: the daily investment in warfare could surely have solved all the infrastructure, education, health and hunger problems,” she says.  “Even in the midst of war, however, people need to have a life. They even manage to find some kind of normalcy. And I just want for WFP to be able to help them.”

We are not naming him for safety reasons.  “People are very quiet and silent; you can see the sadness on their faces. “Sometimes I cry when I look back at the past 10 days, compared to the past 20 years of development. People are worried as no one knows what will happen. The present situation has left everybody feeling hopeless, unhappy; there is a heaviness in the air.” He tells of going out to buy some meat. “I was talking to the butcher and he said: ‘nobody is coming.’  “Afghans love meat and even if a family is poor, they buy some meat. But now, people do not feel like eating, it is almost like they are eating just to survive.” He adds, that when the butcher relayed his plight he broke down and cried. But he continues to work from home and on that front not much has changed, since staff have been working from home for the past several months, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Across Afghanistan, most UNDP projects are implemented with government staff, municipalities, and international and local NGOs - and after a lull following the collapse of the government in Kabul and takeover by the Taliban – some health related, disaster mitigation and construction projects on the ground have restarted across many communities. That work would come to a halt during a crisis was to be expected, he says, because people were more apprehensive and anxious during the early days of the crisis. But life goes on, he adds. “The elders have been calling and are asking us to keep working on projects. They say: ‘we are poor, we need the help, the government may be changing but we the people are not changing.’ He says activities have resumed on some climate resilience projects that are engaged in climate-resilient livelihoods and irrigation improved infrastructure, such as greenhouses, cold storage facilities, reservoirs, retaining walls, protection walls and canal lining – to reduce seepage and loss of water – and drip irrigation systems to give farmers a steady supply of water. These projects are crucial as people are already facing the negative impacts of climate change, he says. They are also saving jobs. The work is being done by both skilled and unskilled labor that is available in the communities. The work on HIV, TB, Malaria and COVID response, also through our mobile health clinics, continue. These are saving lives. However, with banking at a halt work is moving slowly. Some local community development councils had cash on hand - that was transferred before the Taliban took over – and they are continuing activities on the ground. But the banking system must be reestablished soon for work to move ahead as planned. “I personally think, yes, we can stay, and we can deliver. We are working for the people of Afghanistan these are the same people, no matter the government. “We Afghans adapt to situations. There is still hope. On TV we hear the Taliban say that there will be an inclusive government, we are hoping for the best.” But, he says, when he goes out women and girls are a rare sight. I see “girls look out the window, they can’t go out.” Getting through each day is tough, he adds. “It is difficult to concentrate and focus, you cannot focus when you are thinking what will happen to my country what will happen to what we did for development over the last 20 years, especially for girls and women. “I don’t think they may have the opportunities that they had in past, like they were working before. There will be rules for them, and they may not want to adapt to the new rules.” So, they will be forced out of work, he says.    Yet, according to him, the choice is clear and stark. Despite the prevailing political uncertainty, he says: “We have to reach people especially the vulnerable people who have lost jobs.” In a situation like this, “donors are always ready to provide humanitarian aid, but they must also focus on early recovery and long-term development.” Humanitarian aid and development must go hand in hand, he says. “You don’t want to make people dependent you want to make them independent. Do not give them fish; teach them to fish.”