Malnourished children in Afghanistan at 'high risk of dying' without US aid

A once-bustling malnutrition clinic in the Afghan capital has fallen silent, its doors closed and staff laid off after the United States ended critical funding.

Until last month, the center treated dozens of severely malnourished children every month. But with U.S. aid frozen, the clinic, fully supported by Washington, was forced to shut down, leaving vulnerable children with nowhere to go.

“If they don't get treatment, there's an extremely high risk of dying,” said Cobi Rietveld, country director of Action Against Hunger, which ran the center.

The last patients left in March. The pharmacy is locked, and the toys and baby bottles are packed away. Funding has dried up, and so has hope for many families.

Chief doctor Farid Ahmad Barakzai said patients are still arriving, only to be turned away. "It’s a big challenge to explain to them that they need to go elsewhere for treatment,” he said.

Afghanistan is now facing the world’s second-largest humanitarian crisis, after Sudan, according to the United Nations. After four decades of conflict and economic collapse, millions remain vulnerable.

The clinic in Kabul used to treat 65 children each month with severe acute malnutrition and complications. Children stayed for several days with their mothers, receiving food and care to prevent worsening illness.

“Every infection a child can get, a malnourished child will get as well, with an increased risk of dying,” Rietveld said.

Staff members, now finishing their last shifts, say the closure is heartbreaking. “They have to send them somewhere else where they don’t have the same specialized treatment,” she said.

Afghanistan, where 45% of the population is under 14, has one of the highest rates of child stunting globally. The UN estimates that 3.5 million children under five suffer from acute malnutrition.

Impacts on Afghans

Food insecurity affects 15 million Afghans, with more than 3 million on the brink of famine, the UN says. The crisis is growing as aid disappears.

Last week, the World Food Programme confirmed the United States had ended funding for its Afghanistan operations, reversing cuts made elsewhere.

“This is a country that’s been through so many shocks,” said Edwin Ceniza Salvador, WHO’s representative in Afghanistan. “With a fragile system, even basic care... those are not even there.”

Rietveld said Action Against Hunger has cut 150 of its 900 local staff. “I have crying people in my office,” she said. “We listen, we offer support, but we can’t get them a job.”

The impact is especially severe for Afghan women. Most of the 40 employees at the nutrition center were female, now jobless in a country where Taliban restrictions limit women’s education and employment.

“For many of us, the only place we could work was in this health center,” said 27-year-old nurse Wazhma Noorzai. “Now, we are losing even that.”

The organization is now trying to recover from the loss of U.S. support, which made up 30% of its local budget.

“We’re writing proposals, talking to donors,” Rietveld said. “But I don’t think other donors can cover the gap.”