ISLAMABAD: The World Food Programme (WFP) on Monday announced it has started dispatching wheat flour from Pakistan to Afghanistan amid the latest assessment report that some 22.8 million people in the war-torn country are facing acute food insecurity.

The wheat has been milled and fortified in Pakistan to improve the nutritional value for consumers. WFP’s first consignment of wheat flour is being transported from Multan to Jalalabad via Peshawar, and about 200 trucks carrying 10,000 tonnes of wheat flour will go from Pakistan to Afghanistan in the coming days, WFP said.

The Pakistan government is supporting WFP operations to address critical food shortages in Afghanistan as the country faces a rapidly escalating humanitarian crisis. Without immediate humanitarian action, the situation will quickly become a matter of life or death, according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification assessment.

Published in Dawn, November 16th, 2021