Five years after Taliban takeover, Afghanistan faces chronic humanitarian crisis underfunded by international donors

An NRC representative quoted in the report captured the scale of distress on the ground. "Die Not hier ist so chronisch und groß, dass sie sich kaum mit Situationen vergleichen lässt, die ich bisher erlebt habe," the spokesperson said, describing the situation as one of the most severe the organisation has documented. The wording underscores how aid workers themselves frame the country's condition as historically grave.

The funding gap

The funding shortfall comes against a backdrop of compounding crises: drought, economic collapse, displacement from Pakistan and other neighbouring states, and the cumulative effect of restrictions imposed since August 2021. The NRC and partner organisations have repeatedly warned that aid appeals are being met at roughly half the levels required, forcing cuts to food assistance, health services and shelter programmes.

Beyond humanitarian funding, the anniversary has focused attention on longer-term outlooks for Afghan society, particularly for women and girls whose access to education and employment has been sharply curtailed under Taliban rule. Cultural figures such as singer Manizha Bakhtari, referenced in coverage of the period, have become symbols of the artistic life that has shrunk under the current administration.

Cities that once served as regional hubs continue to absorb large numbers of returnees and internally displaced people. Kabul and western cities including Herat have been repeatedly mentioned as focal points of need, with shelter, water and health infrastructure under sustained strain.

Cultural and humanitarian priorities

International cultural institutions have also flagged concerns. UNESCO has cited Afghan heritage and education as priorities repeatedly underfunded, and reports from 2024 and 2025 repeatedly note that even modest requests for cultural preservation have gone unmet. The shortfall is part of a wider pattern in which humanitarian appeals are systematically undermatched.

Inside the country, individual accounts collected by aid workers illustrate the human cost. Sharifa, whose name has appeared in NRC reporting as a displaced Afghan, is among those whose circumstances typify the experience of families who have lost primary earners and face a contracting set of options for survival.

Donor governments, including several European countries that had previously hosted large Afghan refugee populations after 2021, have continued to provide humanitarian funding but at levels well below what aid agencies say is required. The result, the NRC argues, is a slow-motion deterioration rather than an acute emergency that triggers large-scale response.

Donor response and outlook

Aid organisations are urging a renewed donor effort, framing the question as one of whether the international community will commit resources proportionate to the scale of need, or continue to accept chronic underfunding as the baseline. The NRC's figure of 42 percent delivery has become a reference point in that debate.

As the anniversary passes in Kabul, there is little indication of a near-term change in funding trajectories. Without a significant increase in delivered assistance, humanitarian organisations say, the conditions they describe as historically severe are likely to deepen through the coming winter.

Reporting from outlets covering the anniversary emphasises that the crisis is not a sudden event but a sustained emergency now in its fifth year, and one in which the gap between stated commitments and actual disbursement continues to define the lived experience of millions of Afghans.