Winter in Afghanistan: Women and Girls in the Front Line as Hunger Deepens

Dec 16, 2025 | Peyvand Khorsandi
World Food Programme
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As winter sets in across Afghanistan, so does dread. “There’s usually a peak in child mortality in December and January, even in a good year, when temperatures plummet,” said John Aylieff, Country Director for the World Food Programme (WFP) in Kabul.

“This year it’s going to be devastating.”

Malnutrition has surged to record highs after the worst drought in decades torched crops for millions of farmers, with two serious earthquakes and the forced returns of migrants from Pakistan and Iran deepening the country’s struggles with food shortages and poverty.