The lack of development assistance in Afghanistan is making it impossible to build long-term positive change in the country. To highlight this serious problem, INTERSOS has published a Position Paper highlighting the consequences of lack of development funding (and decreasing humanitarian funding) and calling donors and their governments to re-start a level of engagement with the Authorities in the country and re-commit to targeted development support to ensure that Afghanistan’s most vulnerable populations are not left behind and change is built for the long-term.

Afghanistan is facing one of the most severe and protracted crises in the world. Today, nearly half of the population, 21.9 million people, require humanitarian assistance to meet their basic needs. While humanitarian aid remains essential to save lives, it cannot by itself address the structural challenges that have accumulated after more than four decades of conflict.

Since 2021, the near-total suspension of development assistance has profoundly reshaped the international response. What was once a combined humanitarian-development effort has become overwhelmingly emergency-driven. This imbalance is now one of the central obstacles to long-term recovery.

When emergency aid becomes the system

Humanitarian assistance is designed to respond to acute crises. It is not meant to sustain entire public systems year after year. Yet in Afghanistan, humanitarian funding is increasingly being used to keep essential services afloat, including primary healthcare and nutrition support without the possibility to build long-term change.

At the same time, humanitarian funding is decreasing. The 2025 funding cuts, which began with the closure of USAID programmes and were followed by reductions from other donors, have further strained an already fragile response system. As a result, organisations are currently expected to address chronic and predictable needs through short-term humanitarian projects.

This model is neither efficient nor sustainable. Without development investment, humanitarian gains remain fragile and reversible, requiring repeated interventions to meet the same needs each year.

Development engagement without political recognition

Restoring development support does not require political recognition of the de facto authorities. Targeted and carefully calibrated engagement can focus exclusively on the technical aspects of the response.

In practice, this means channeling funding through trusted humanitarian and development partners, while limiting engagement with state structures to technical coordination necessary for service continuity. Such an approach safeguards donor necessities while preventing further deterioration of critical systems.

In a context where development assistance previously underpinned much of the country’s social infrastructure, carefully designed re-engagement is essential to stabilise services that humanitarian aid alone cannot maintain.

A more coherent way forward

Afghanistan cannot remain in a permanent state of emergency. A more balanced approach is urgently needed, one that combines flexible humanitarian funding with principled, targeted development assistance.

This includes:

• Investing in early recovery and resilience interventions in sectors such as health, agriculture, food systems, water infrastructure, and the private sector;
• Expanding multi-year and flexible funding to enable longer-term planning;
• Strengthening coordination among donors, aid actors, and relevant authorities;
• Supporting private sector recovery and local markets as drivers of economic stability.
  

Political decisions require political solutions

Afghanistan’s current situation is shaped by political decisions taken both internationally and within the country. For this reason, the path forward is also political. Sustained and principled engagement, grounded in accountability and focused on the needs of the Afghan population, is necessary to prevent further deterioration and break the cycle of dependency.

Humanitarian aid saves lives. Development assistance builds the conditions for those lives to be sustained with dignity. Afghanistan needs both.

Download the Policy Paper to consult the full list of recommendations.

Five years have now passed since the new authorities reshaped Afghanistan in 2021. While the open conflict ended, the humanitarian crisis persists, with an estimated 21.9 million people still in need of humanitarian assistance. In this article, Maher Alshoun, Country Director of INTERSOS in Afghanistan, reflects on the current situation and the challenges facing millions of Afghans today. 

Afghanistan is a country of extraordinary beauty and diversity—of cultures, languages, traditions, landscapes and people. Yet for millions of Afghans, the past five years have been defined by uncertainty and by one crisis following another.

When I travel to the communities where INTERSOS works, particularly in some of the country’s most remote areas, I am often struck by how ordinary life can look from a distance. A mother carries her child to a health centre. Children wait to be vaccinated. Families search for work. Farmers try to make a living from increasingly fragile land.

But behind these ordinary scenes is a country that has spent years living through overlapping crises.

The political changes of 2021 did not bring an end to Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis. They changed its shape. Conflict, poverty, restrictions on women and girls, food insecurity, malnutrition, climate shocks and displacement have continued to affect people’s lives, while humanitarian funding has become increasingly limited.

For an Afghan family, however, these crises are not separate. They are part of everyday life.

A mother living in a remote village may have to travel for hours to reach a health facility. A family may struggle to afford enough food while their child becomes malnourished. A drought may destroy a family’s livelihood, while a flood or earthquake can take away the little they have left.

For a family already struggling to survive, a natural disaster does not arrive as a separate crisis. It arrives on top of everything else.

The consequences of crises in healthcare facilities

This is where the humanitarian situation becomes visible.

In the remote provinces where INTERSOS works, access to healthcare can be difficult. The restrictions affecting women’s education and participation have also created longer-term challenges for humanitarian operations, including difficulties in finding qualified female health workers in some remote areas.

This matters because for many women, having access to women health workers can make it easier and more comfortable to seek the care they need. 

At an INTERSOS health facility, the consequences of these overlapping crises can be seen every day: a pregnant woman seeking maternal care, a child needing treatment for malnutrition, a family seeking protection assistance, or a child receiving a vaccine against a preventable disease.

For people living far from major towns, a local health centre is more than a building. It can be the difference between receiving treatment and going without it.

INTERSOS has been present in Afghanistan since 2001, supporting communities that are often among the hardest to reach. Our teams provide healthcare, maternal and newborn care, nutrition treatment, immunisation, protection and mental health support where these services are often extremely limited or unavailable.

A country receiving people who have nowhere else to go

In recent years, another major challenge has emerged with the return of more than six million of Afghans from neighbouring countries. For many families, returning to Afghanistan does not mean returning to stability. They arrive with children and few belongings, without employment, housing or reliable access to basic services, and no support for reintegration. They return to communities that are themselves struggling.

For humanitarian organisations, this means adapting constantly. We must respond to immediate needs while prioritising people facing the most severe vulnerabilities, often in places where other services are limited or absent.

At the same time, international humanitarian assistance has declined. This has changed the nature of humanitarian work in Afghanistan. It is no longer simply about reaching as many people as possible. Increasingly, organisations are forced to prioritise between needs that are all urgent. We find ourselves asking not only, who needs assistance? but also, who needs it most urgently? This is one of the hardest realities for humanitarian workers to accept.

Funding gaps are not simply numbers. They can mean health facilities closing down, fewer health workers being available, fewer communities being reached, and families being left without support when there is nowhere else to turn.

Five years later, Afghans are still trying to live

And yet, what strikes me most when I meet people in the communities where we work is not only their vulnerability. It is their determination. Parents continue to care for their children. Mothers continue to seek healthcare. Families continue to rebuild after disasters. People returning to Afghanistan continue to search for a place to live and a way to earn a living.

Afghans are not simply waiting for humanitarian assistance. They are trying to live, work, raise their families, and build a future.

Humanitarian assistance cannot solve all of Afghanistan’s challenges. But it can keep a child alive. It can ensure that a pregnant woman receives care. It can treat a severely malnourished child. It can keep an essential health facility open in a remote community. Five years of crisis should not make Afghanistan less visible. The needs have not disappeared because the crisis has lasted longer.

Sustained humanitarian funding is essential to ensure that life-saving services remain available to the people who need them most. At the same time, achieving lasting recovery will require the restoration of a degree of targeted development support and investment in livelihoods, basic services, and community resilience.

For INTERSOS, this means continuing to stand alongside communities that have endured years of hardship and ensuring that, even as resources become more limited, the most vulnerable are not left behind.

Afghans are still here, they are still rebuilding, they are still caring for their families. And, despite everything, they are still hoping for a future beyond survival.

In the Lake province, Chad, INTERSOS integrates mobile clinic interventions, malnutrition management, access to safe drinking water, and the creation of family gardens to respond to the needs of displaced and host communities in the departments of Mamdi, Kaya, and Fouli.

In the Lake province, emergencies overlap. On top of the incursions by armed groups and the resulting population displacements—over 220,000 internal displaced persons according to the 2025 Humanitarian Response Plan—come the effects of climate change: in 2024 alone, floods affected more than 277,000 people in the province, destroying homes, food stocks, and water and sanitation infrastructure.

The impact on nutritional health is severe. Acute malnutrition reaches 11.9% in the province, while severe acute malnutrition stands at 2.8%: rates significantly higher than national averages. In informal displacement sites and island villages, health facilities are distant, under-equipped, and suffering from continuous shortages of medicines and nutritional supplements.

It is in this context that INTERSOS has been implementing, since June 2025, a project funded by the Italian Cooperation to strengthen the food and nutritional security of Chad’s most vulnerable communities.

Reaching the most isolated communities: mobile clinics

To reach the population in the hardest-to-access areas, since March 2026, two mobile clinic teams—each composed of a nurse, a nutrition assistant, and a midwife—have been operating out of Baga Sola (in Kaya department) and Liwa (in Fouli department), covering five internal displacement sites. Their work complements that of the Melea and Yakoua health centers, which are also supported by the project.

Since the start of activities, 27,845 people have been screened, including 22,663 children aged 6 to 59 months and 5,182 pregnant and lactating women. Identified cases are managed by our staff: 427 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition have received targeted treatment (321 through mobile teams and 106 at the Melea health center), while 506 cases of moderate acute malnutrition (259 children aged 6 to 59 months and 247 pregnant and lactating women) have received comprehensive care and assistance.

The intervention also relies on community support: 50 community workers, trained in malnutrition screening and prevention, carry out awareness activities and guide families, while 1,348 mothers and caregivers have received a MUAC tape—a color-coded measuring tape that checks mid-upper arm circumference to immediately detect the first signs of malnutrition, allowing families to monitor their children independently at home.

Prevention before cure

The response goes beyond treating acute cases. To prevent malnutrition, in April 2026 we ordered over 11 tons of locally produced enriched flour (22,000 sachets). To date, with the first 5 tons delivered, we have already helped 1,545 children aged 6 to 59 months, and distributions will continue in the coming months. At the same time, the Melea and Yakoua health centers promote good feeding practices for infants and young children. This is complemented by a local radio campaign to raise community awareness both on nutrition and on seasonal flood prevention.

Water and sanitation: fundamental pillars for nutrition

Because there is no good nutrition without clean water, in the village of Bouroum-Tchouloum we set up a water network equipped with two 5,000-liter storage tanks and two public tap stands. Its management was entrusted to a local committee specifically trained and equipped. To safely dispose of medical waste, eight incinerators were built, while two health centers, five mobile clinic sites, and two primary schools received emergency drinking water kits.

Family gardens to build resilience

Finally, to address the root causes of malnutrition, 200 households—represented by 200 women—were trained in market gardening techniques and compost production, receiving seeds and farm tools. Accompanied weekly by agronomy experts, these women now manage family gardens that help diversify household diets and strengthen community self-reliance.

The ProSAN project is implemented by INTERSOS from June 2025 to September 2026 in the departments of Mamdi, Kaya, and Fouli (Lake province, Chad), funded by the Italian Cooperation, co-funded by European Union Humanitarian Aid (ECHO), and in close coordination with provincial health authorities, WFP, and UNICEF.

Five years on from the Taliban’s return to power, Afghanistan remains gripped by a profound crisis. Together with the organisations of ENNA — the European Network of NGOs on Afghanistan, of which INTERSOS is a member — we call on the European Union, its Member States, and the international community to maintain long-term support to the Afghan people. 

15 August 2026 marks five years since the return of the Taliban to power. Already vulnerable from decades of war, aid dependency, and climate shocks, Afghanistan has been plunged into economic collapse by suspension of development aid, and frozen foreign reserves. This crisis was further worsened by regional tensions that cut off vital trade routes. Still, Afghans across the country continue to demonstrate remarkable resilience, solidarity, and determination in sustaining their communities and livelihoods.

Humanitarian assistance provides access to basic services and protection to thousands of vulnerable Afghans, but it cannot, on its own, address Afghanistan’s structural challenges. Sustainable development investments are necessary to strengthen education, local economies, climate resilience, and public services. Afghanistan requires an approach that combines principled humanitarian action with long-term development investments.

As one of the main donors to Afghanistan, the European Union has a critical role to play in supporting the Afghan people. The EU’s presence in Kabul remains essential to ensure that the country’s dire situation is not forgotten and to maintain dialogue with the de facto authorities, including to continue advocating for the rights of women and girls and to facilitate operational access.

As European Network of NGOs on Afghanistan, we call on the EU and its Member States, and the international community, to maintain principled and long-term engagement with Afghanistan, recognising that disengagement would primarily harm ordinary Afghans.

We call for predictable, multi-year humanitarian and development financing that addresses urgent needs while strengthening essential services, climate resilience, and local economies. 

We call for strengthened support to Afghan civil society, including local and women-led organisations, through meaningful consultation, direct partnerships, and sustained investment in locally led and inclusive approaches.

Since the eruption of conflict in Sudan in 2023, Libya has witnessed a continuous influx of people seeking safety, and as of mid-2026 hosts over 559,000 Sudanese refugees. Individuals and families fleeing violence endure long, difficult journeys marked by often-repeated displacement, widespread insecurity, and limited access to basic services and resources. Many of these families transit through, others settle, in places like Sabha, Ajdabiya, or Tripoli. For children, the emotional toll of leaving their homes and navigating such instability is profound, leaving them highly vulnerable and in urgent need of protection.

The Lisan Project and Baity Centers

To address these critical needs, since January 2025, INTERSOS carries out the Libya Safety Net and Resilience Programme for vulnerable communities (LISAN) project, partnering in a consortium alongside the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). Made possible by the financial support of the European Union, this initiative aims to improve access to essential services, promote safer communities, and enhance local capacities to respond to the protection risks faced by vulnerable populations, including Migrants, Refugees, Asylum Seekers (MRAS), Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), and Host Communities. 

At the heart of INTERSOS’ response are the Community Centers – also called “Baity Centers”, which serve as safe, protective spaces for vulnerable and at-risk individuals in Tripoli, Ajdabiya, and Sabha, with a particular focus on children. Recognizing that children require more than just physical safety, INTERSOS focuses on Individual Case Management and Psychosocial Support as core protection activities. For children and individuals facing the most severe protection risks, INTERSOS case workers provide an integrated individual case management package, delivering comprehensive direct assistance that includes psychological first aid, specialised psychosocial and legal counseling, and targeted internal and external referrals. In parallel, through creative expression, cooperative games, and emotional learning, PSS activities help children navigate trauma, build positive coping mechanisms, and restore a sense of normalcy to their lives.

The stories of Khalil, Omar and Aisha

The impact of these activities, funded by the EU, is most visible in the children who have found a safe space within the Baity Centers. In 2024, 11-year-old twins Khalil and Omar were forced to flee Sudan with their family. Their journey to Libya was harrowing; they experienced theft and insecurity before eventually settling in a camp for Sudanese refugees in Ajdabiya. The prolonged displacement took a significant toll on the boys’ emotional well-being, hindering their ability to interact with others. Upon enrolling at the INTERSOS Baity Center, the twins began attending structured PSS sessions. Over time, these protection activities helped the brothers regain their confidence and emotional stability. Khalil and Omar rebuilt positive relationships with their peers and discovered healthy ways to express themselves, with Omar finding a particular joy in drawing. Today, they look forward to attending the center every day, and their mother is proud of their improvements.

Before the war, 9-year-old Aisha enjoyed a peaceful childhood in Sudan. By the time she reached Sabha, the fear and uncertainty of displacement had left her deeply withdrawn. During her first days at the center, Aisha was easily overwhelmed, avoided eye contact, and spoke so quietly she could barely be heard. To support her, INTERSOS team introduced structured PSS activities specifically designed to help children process their emotions safely. Using drawing, emotion cards, and interactive exercises, Aisha gradually learned to recognize and communicate her feelings rather than crying when she felt overwhelmed. Through group games and role-playing, she began to build friendships and trust. The once-withdrawn child transformed into an emotionally resilient, confident girl who now actively participates in group decision-making and willingly shares with her peers.

For Khalil, Omar, and Aisha, INTERSOS Baity Centers have become much more than just a place to go during the day. They are vital protective environments where children can heal from the invisible wounds of conflict. Thanks to the financial contribution of the European Union and the collaborative efforts of the DRC, NRC, and INTERSOS consortium, these targeted protection interventions are empowering children to rebuild their lives, reconnect with their childhoods, and look toward the future with renewed hope.

The INTERSOS 2025 Annual Report is now online. This document stands as a testament to our ongoing commitment to responding to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and supporting vulnerable populations within an exceptionally complex international landscape. This year’s report offers a comprehensive overview of the challenges faced and the milestones achieved, all thanks to the unwavering dedication of our teams on the ground.

The year 2025 was marked by a dramatic deterioration of the global situation and a drastic collapse in international humanitarian funding, driven primarily by severe budget cuts from the United States (which plummeted from $11 billion to $2.5 billion).

Despite these hurdles, and thanks to the invaluable contribution of 2,587 aid workers, we successfully implemented 229 active projects across 22 countries, reaching more than 3.7 million people. But for us, these are not just statistics. We know that behind every single number is a woman, a man, a girl, or a boy affected by war, violence, and extreme poverty, forced to live in conditions of profound fragility. It is precisely for them that our staff works every single day: in fact, 98.75% of our total funds were allocated directly to operational activities and field projects across our missions.

Our 2025 Intervention: Putting People at the Center

Throughout the year, INTERSOS maintained its operational presence in some of the world’s most severe and tragic humanitarian crises, strengthening its adaptability to reach the most inaccessible areas:

• Sudan: In what has become the world’s gravest humanitarian crisis and largest displacement hotspot—with millions affected by conflict, hunger, and disease outbreaks—we responded by guaranteeing life-saving medical, nutritional, and psychological assistance in Darfur, as well as in the states of Kassala, River Nile, and Port Sudan.
• Afghanistan: Despite a harsh “crisis within a crisis” triggered by the withdrawal of international funds and severe restrictions imposed on women and girls, we managed 50 primary health centers. This ensured that communities in the most remote areas, as well as millions of citizens forcibly returned from neighboring countries, were not left behind.
• Ukraine: Faced with systematic and relentless attacks on civilian and energy infrastructure—which expose the population to freezing winter temperatures—we didn’t just wait for patients to come to fixed clinics. Instead, our mobile, multidisciplinary teams traveled directly to isolated villages to provide medical care, psychological support, and legal aid to those unable to move, such as the elderly and people with disabilities.

An Integrated, Multi-Sectoral Approach

To effectively navigate such complex scenarios, INTERSOS deployed a multi-sectoral approach aimed at alleviating suffering and restoring agency to individuals. In 2025, the core of our interventions focused on the sectors of Protection (45%)—particularly child protection and support for women survivors of gender-based violence—and Health and Nutrition (32%), to ensure access to vital medical care and combat childhood malnutrition. These are supported by Food Security programs (8%), Emergency Shelter and Distributions (7%), Education in Emergencies (4%), and water and sanitation services related to WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) (4%).

The 2025 Annual Report is far more than a mere accountability tool. It is the collective story of an organization that—as it officially launches its 2026–2029 Strategic Plan and the Humanitarian Enterprise Framework—strongly reaffirms its core identity: putting the human being at the center, empowering local leadership, and protecting life wherever it is threatened.