Afghanistan

Tens of thousands of people are arriving in Afghanistan without shelter, food or water

3 November 2023 Afghanistan Responding

Tens of thousands of people a day are arriving in Afghanistan without shelter, food or water and are facing an uncertain future after being told to leave Pakistan.

Afghanistan has been ravaged by conflict for decades, political insecurity and a third wave of Covid-19 has left millions of people in need of urgent humanitarian assistance. Now drought has left 14 million people facing a food crisis.

Our teams on the ground have distributed 13,061 food packs to the most vulnerable families in Kabul, Nangarhar, Balkh, Bamiyan, and Kapisa provinces. Qurbani meat distributions to over 10,000 families have also been carried out.

One-off donation

Donate towards Afghanistan

Islamic Relief is on the ground delivering vital food pack, water storage kits and winter clothing, as well as providing medical care through health centres supporting displaced families. Please Donate to Islamic Relief’s Afghanistan Emergency Appeal now and help save lives.

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can provide hygiene and water storage kits for a displaced family in Afghanistan

can provide a food pack for a displaced family in Afghanistan for a month

can provide a displaced family with emergency shelter in Afghanistan

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£50

£100

£550

can provide hygiene and water storage kits for a displaced family in Afghanistan

can provide a food pack for a displaced family in Afghanistan for a month

can provide a displaced family with emergency shelter in Afghanistan

Please enter the amount

Please select a fund

Donate now

Our Covid-19 response in Afghanistan has reached over 308,514 people, and we continue to raise awareness and support women facing gender-based violence.

Living standards in Afghanistan are amongst the lowest in the world. The effects of years of war, ongoing instability and natural disasters have placed Afghanistan in an incredibly precarious position.

Image: Young boy in Afghanistan receives food aid provided by Islamic Relief.

Afghanistan remains incredibly vulnerable to humanitarian disasters as a result of floods, droughts and earthquakes. Combined with a mountainous landscape, the country – which is heavily dependent upon farming – is massively at risk.

What’s more, communities are struggling to recover from the effects of war and with such a fragile economy, the challenge faced by Afghanistan’s vast youth population is huge.

Sadly, 1 in 2 Afghan children are out of school due to conflict, poverty and both ethnic and gender-based discrimination. What’s more, around 8% of children are engaged in child labour, working in agriculture, carpet weaving, domestic work, construction, drug trafficking and even subject to sexual exploitation or forced into conflict.

Poverty is so rife, it kills more people than direct fatalities resulting from conflict, with over half of the population living below the poverty line.

2 boys in winter clothes winter appeal 2022 islamic relief uk

Image: Children in Afghanistan struggling amid the harsh winter.

The situation in Afghanistan

The combined effect of conflict, political insecurity and drought has left communities in Afghanistan struggling to survive.

54%

of the population are living in poverty (UN World Food Programme, 2017)

1 in 4

Afghans of working age are unemployed (UNDP, 2021)

2.6 million

refugees are living in Afghanistan, including those returning home, asylum seekers and internally displaced people (UNHCR, 2019)

41%

of children suffer from stunted growth (UN World Food Programme, 2021)

Islamic Relief in Afghanistan

Islamic Relief started working in Afghanistan in 1992, and we set up our first permanent office in 2001 in response to the conflict.

We have worked in a number of areas, from food provision (working with the UN’s World Food Programme) and water and sanitation to education and orphan support and seasonal programmes like Ramadan and Qurbani distributions.

We have supported Afghans to gain the chance of a better future through education and livelihoods support, with a particular focus on marginalised and highly vulnerable groups including women and drug-affected families. We have run projects to enable women to set up weaving businesses within their own homes, and additionally run a successful village-based treatment and rehabilitation programme in the Balkh province, calling for an expanded national programme to tackle drug abuse. Our sustainable projects on the ground are therefore working to empower communities and provide stable sources of income for the long term.

We currently provide emergency assistance to refugees, especially in the harsh and bitter winters, providing essential food and blankets to help families survive. We also train staff on the ground to build an effective response to disaster and protect vulnerable communities over the long-term.