KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — For 10 hours a day, Rahimullah sells socks from his cart in eastern Kabul, earning between $4.50 and $6 a day. It’s a move, but it’s all he has to feed his family of five.
Rahimullah, who like many Afghans goes by one name, is one of millions of Afghans who rely on humanitarian aid, both from the Afghan authorities and international charities, to survive. An estimated 22.9 million people – almost half the population – needed help in 2025, the International Committee of the Red Cross said in an article on its website on Monday.
But drastic cuts in international aid — including halting U.S. aid to programs such as food distribution run by the United Nations World Food Program — broke that streak.
More than 17 million people in Afghanistan now face crisis levels of hunger this winter, the World Food Program warned last week, 3 million more than were at risk more than a year ago.
The aid cuts come as Afghanistan is battered by a struggling economy, recurring droughts, two deadly earthquakes and a massive influx of Afghan refugees expelled from countries such as Iran and Pakistan. The resulting multiple shocks put severe pressure on resources, including housing and food.
The UN is appealing for help
Tom Fletcher, the UN’s humanitarian chief, told the Security Council in mid-December that the situation had been exacerbated by “overlapping shocks”, including recent earthquakes and increasing restrictions on humanitarian access and personnel.
While Fletcher said nearly 22 million Afghans will need UN assistance in 2026, his organization will focus on the 3.9 million who face the most urgent need for rescue aid because of reduced donor contributions.
Fletcher said this winter was “the first in years with almost no international food distribution”.
“As a result, only about 1 million of the most vulnerable people received food assistance during the 2025 lean season,” compared with 5.6 million last year, he said.
The year has been devastating for UN aid agencies, which have had to cut thousands of jobs and spending following aid cuts.
“We are grateful to all of you who have continued to support Afghanistan. But as we look to 2026, we risk a further contraction in life-saving aid – at a time when food insecurity, health needs, pressure on basic services and protection risks are growing,” Fletcher said.
Returning refugees
The return of millions of refugees added pressure to an already shaky system. Minister of Refugees and Repatriation Affairs Abdul Kabir said on Sunday that 7.1 million Afghan refugees have returned to the country in the past 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 and food.
“The assistance helped me a lot,” he said. But without it, “now I don’t have enough money to live on. God forbid, if I were to face a serious illness or any other problem, it would be very difficult for me to manage because I don’t have extra money for expenses.”
The massive influx of former refugees has also sent rents skyrocketing. Rahimullah’s landlord has almost doubled the rent of 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 afghanis (about $67), he now wants 8,000 afghanis (about $120)—an amount Rahimullah cannot afford. So he, his wife, daughter and two young sons will have to move next month. They don’t know where.
Before the Taliban took over, 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 money for oil, we can’t pay the rent. And there’s also the extra electricity bill,” said Rahimullah.
Harsh winters make the mess worse
In Afghanistan’s northern province of Badakhshan, Sherin Gul is desperate. In 2023, her family of 12 received supplies of flour, oil, rice, beans, pulses, salt and biscuits. He was a lifesaver.
But it only lasted six months. Now, it’s nothing. Her husband is old and frail and unable to work, she said. With 10 children, seven girls and three boys aged between 7 and 27, the burden of caring for the family fell on her 23-year-old son – the only one old enough to work. But even he finds only occasional jobs.
“There are 12 of us … and one working person can’t cover the expenses,” she said. “We’re in big trouble.”
Sometimes the neighbors take pity on them and give them food. Often they are all hungry.
“There were times when we had nothing to eat at night and my young children fell asleep without food,” said Gul. “I just gave them green tea and they cried themselves to sleep.”
Before the Taliban takeover, Gul worked as a cleaner, earning barely enough to feed her family. But the ban on women’s work has left her unemployed and she said she has developed a nervous breakdown and is often ill.
Their misery is compounded by the bitter cold of the Afghan northern winter, when snow halts construction work, where her son can sometimes find jobs. And there’s the added expense of firewood and coal.
“If this situation continues like this, we may face severe famine,” Gul said. “And then it will be very difficult for us to survive 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.