The World Food Program (WFP), in a newly released report, has announced that with the arrival of winter, one in four families in Afghanistan will face challenges in securing sufficient food.

The organization emphasized that millions of people in Afghanistan are grappling with a food crisis, with a quarter of the country’s population unable to access enough food to sustain their lives.

WFP added that $680 million in funding will be needed over the next six months to assist the most vulnerable families across Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s Ministry of Economy acknowledged that WFP’s assistance has been effective in reducing poverty in the country.

Abdul Rahman Habib, spokesperson for the Ministry of Economy, said: “We call on the World Food Program and other aid organizations to not only provide humanitarian aid to needy Afghans but also to create job opportunities and participate in developmental projects.”

However, some Kabul residents have expressed concern about the challenges of the upcoming winter and have urged for aid to be provided to the impoverished.

Safiullah, a Kabul resident, said, “Aid is distributed through representatives who give it to their relatives, leaving poor people with nothing.”

Additionally, some experts have highlighted the importance of international aid in addressing short-term challenges while recommending that investment in infrastructure projects would benefit Afghanistan’s economy in the long term.

Ahmad Ferdos Behgozin, an economic analyst, said: “If humanitarian aid is provided extensively in areas such as food and health, we can mitigate the negative impacts of this disaster. At the same time, we must convince organizations to focus on infrastructure projects.”

The WFP, in its report released a day earlier, stated that it has provided food and cash assistance to 10.5 million people in Afghanistan this year.