June 26, 2026, 9:31 p.mJune 26, 2026, 9:31 p.m
The organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has recorded an “alarming increase” in malnourished children in southern Afghanistan.
Nutrition centers that the organization supports in the region recorded 30 percent more admissions of malnourished children in the first quarter of the year than in the same period last year, according to a statement.
“The children come to us much too late and are often already in a critical condition with preventable medical complications,” said Ana Lilia Banda, medical coordinator for Doctors Without Borders in southern Afghanistan, according to the statement. Most of the children admitted are younger than one year old.
On Wednesday, the deputy press spokesman for the Taliban ruling in Kabul, Hamdullah Fitrat, rejected a separate report by a children’s rights organization. The country’s government is committed to protecting children’s rights, he said, according to the Afghan television channel Tolonews.
Climate change and funding cuts are exacerbating the humanitarian situation
MSF particularly complains about a significant reduction in international funding for Afghanistan. Related closures of health facilities in the country made early detection of malnutrition more difficult. The situation is exacerbated by recurring droughts.
Since the Taliban came back to power in the summer of 2021, international donor countries have massively cut their contributions to humanitarian programs there. Afghanistan is considered one of the countries most affected by climate change in the world.
On Tuesday, representatives of the Islamist Taliban were welcomed by the EU Commission for talks in Brussels for the first time. The exchange at a “technical level” was about the deportations of Afghans to their homeland, as the European Commission confirmed. The authorities emphasized that the talks did not amount to recognition of the Taliban. (sda/dpa)
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