Afghan Mother Grieves Three Sons Lost to Starvation Amid Humanitarian Crisis

Mon Sep 29 2025 03:26:41 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)

In a heart-wrenching account, Afghan mother Nazo shares her anguish over the loss of her three sons to malnutrition, highlighting the severe hunger crisis facing families in Afghanistan. Amidst soaring malnutrition rates, echoes of desperate pleas reverberate throughout the country as winter looms.

Nazo, an Afghan mother, recounts her tragic loss of three children to malnutrition, showcasing the dire hunger crisis engulfing Afghanistan. As the World Food Programme warns of an unprecedented increase in child malnutrition, families face immense struggles without adequate food assistance. The report brings attention to the government's limited resources and the impact of international aid cuts amid a rising humanitarian disaster.

Gusts of wind blew dust up off the ground as Ghulam Mohiddin and his wife Nazo walked towards the graveyard where all their children are buried.

They showed us the graves of the three boys they lost in the past two years – one-year-old Rahmat, seven-month-old Koatan and most recently, three-month-old Faisal Ahmad.

All three suffered from malnutrition, say Ghulam and Nazo.

Can you imagine how painful it's been for me to lose three children? One minute there's a baby in your arms, the next minute they are empty, says Nazo.

I hope every day that angels would somehow put my babies back in our home.

There are days the couple go without food. They break walnut shells for a living in the Sheidaee settlement just outside the city of Herat in western Afghanistan and receive no help from the Taliban government or from NGOs.

Watching helplessly as my children cried out of hunger, it felt like my body was erupting in flames. It felt like someone was cutting me into half with a saw from my head to my feet, said Ghulam.

The deaths of their children are not recorded anywhere, but it's evidence of a silent wave of mortality engulfing Afghanistan's youngest, as the country is pushed into what the UN calls an unprecedented crisis of hunger.

Food assistance has been crucial in preventing hunger and malnutrition, particularly for the most vulnerable. With over three million children now in peril, urgency is mounting as winter approaches and humanitarian efforts dwindle due to cuts in aid from the US and other countries.