The United Nations has warned that drastically reduced rainfall across Afghanistan is pushing the country toward a large-scale drought, similar to the devastating crisis of 2018, which could plunge millions into hunger and further deepen the ongoing humanitarian emergency.

According to a new report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the precipitous decline in rainfall this year has placed Afghanistan "on the verge of another widespread drought."

The report noted that rainfall levels across the country have been well below average, with serious drought risks now emerging in the northern, northeastern, central, and western regions. OCHA warned that the current climate conditions closely resemble those preceding the 2018 drought, during which more than 300,000 people were displaced and approximately 3.6 million Afghans faced emergency levels of food insecurity.

The agency emphasized that nearly half of Afghanistan`s population now requires urgent humanitarian assistance to survive. Combined with overlapping crises - including deadly earthquakes, mass deportations of Afghan refugees, and a critical shortage of humanitarian funding - the situation is fast approaching a full-scale humanitarian disaster.

OCHA further warned that Afghan women and girls are bearing the brunt of the crisis, as social restrictions, exclusion from education, and denial of employment opportunities have left them highly vulnerable. The report stressed that humanitarian aid remains their only lifeline.

Previously, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) had also issued warnings about the devastating impact of prolonged drought on agricultural production and rural livelihoods.

Experts now fear that, without immediate international intervention, Afghanistan could face a repeat - or even a worsening - of the 2018 drought, threatening to push millions more into hunger, displacement, and poverty, and leaving the country on the edge of a man-made humanitarian catastrophe.