Afghanistan has slipped from international attention despite the "extreme needs" of its people, an International Committee of the Red Cross senior official said Monday, urging the world "not to abandon Afghan communities".
ICRC director of operations Yasmine Praz Dessimoz told AFP in an interview in Kabul that Afghans are "struggling to survive with significant humanitarian needs" and a collapsing health system.
One million Afghan children face life-threatening malnutrition, while 3.7 million suffer from acute malnutrition, the United Nations children's agency UNICEF warned last week.
Owing to the decrease in international aid, 100 clinics that had treated malnutrition in children have closed across the country, the UN said recently.
Afghanistan remains among the top five ICRC operations worldwide, but due to funding cuts "we had to make those difficult choices in order to remain alongside the Afghan population," Praz Dessimoz said.
