UNICEF states that one million children in Afghanistan suffer from severe acute malnutrition and face risk of death without treatment, with 3.7 million experiencing wasting overall. Hospital data show nearly 40 percent of severe cases involve infants under six months and more than 500,000 children admitted this year. An economic collapse followed the 2021 Taliban return to power after U.S. withdrawal, amid Afghanistan's longer history of conflict-related hunger.