9 Dec 2022

Asuntha Charles: Afghanistan's growing humanitarian crisis

From Nine To Noon, 9:20 am on 9 December 2022
World Vision Afghanistan National Director, Asuntha Charles, visits World Vision's Health & Nutrition programme in Herat province, where children are suffering from hunger because of drought, which is already in its fifth year.

World Vision Afghanistan National Director, Asuntha Charles, visits World Vision's Health & Nutrition programme in Herat province, where children are suffering from hunger because of drought, which is already in its fifth year. Photo: Freelance Staff

Children and families in Afghanistan are facing a growing humanitarian crisis, as mid-winter bites hard.

Following decades of conflict, poverty, recurrent natural disasters, and the continuing impacts of the pandemic Afghanistan is enduring a hunger crisis, a near-collapse of the health system, devastation to schools, and the destruction of family livelihoods.

World Vision's Afghanistan National Director Asuntha Charles is was the only World Vision foreign national who stayed in Afghanistan after power was transitioned back to the Taliban, while others were evacuated or left. 

Asuntha is one of the few female leaders dealing with the Taliban. She explains to Kathryn Ryan huge the humanitarian challenges are.