Hundreds of thousands more children face acute malnutrition ‌in Afghanistan this year amid a hunger crisis exacerbated by foreign aid cuts and violence on the border with Pakistan, a UN official said on Tuesday.

“Acute malnutrition ⁠among children is soaring. Last year we saw the highest surge ever ​recorded in Afghanistan, and this year, a staggering 3.7 million children will need ​malnutrition treatment,” the World Food Programme's Country Director John Aylieff told a Geneva press briefing.

Some 200,000 additional children face acute malnutrition this year, he added.

Funding cuts mean the UN agency ​only has the resources to treat one in every four children needing ​treatment for acute malnutrition, Aylieff said.

Others do not even have the means to reach clinics, ‌he ⁠said, voicing concerns that some are trapped by snowfall in remote highland areas.

Most children who die in Afghanistan do so “during the winter... at home silently”, he said.

“What I fear is when the snow is melted at the end ​of March or ​in April, we ⁠will find there has been a very high toll of child deaths in the villages.”

Expulsion policies in neighbouring Pakistan ​and Iran have resulted in over 5 million returnees since late ​2023, ⁠further straining limited resources, Aylieff said.

Many of those returning to Afghanistan are close to areas where Pakistani and Afghan troops have clashed in recent days, forcing WFP to ⁠suspend ​some services there.

“We foresee that acute malnutrition will ​be driven up further by the conflict as people are prevented from accessing health services,” imperilling ​tens of thousands of children, said Aylieff.