Since the U.S. withdrawal and Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, the country has been gripped by a deepening and continually escalating humanitarian crisis. The elemental causes of Afghans' loss of access to food, water, shelter, and basic healthcare stem from the collapse of the economy. Millions of Afghans are in a state of fear and uncertainty, and the country's people are in need of immediate emergency aid.
The charities listed below are Top-Rated by CharityWatch for spending at least 75% of their cash budgets on programs; for maintaining fundraising efficiency of $25 or less to raise each $100 in cash donations; and for meeting CharityWatch's governance and transparency benchmarks.
Scammers will exploit your feelings of empathy and compassion during times of crisis as a means of siphoning donations away from legitimate charities and into their own pockets. Read CharityWatch's advice for avoiding charity frauds and scams:
5 Tips For Avoiding Charity Frauds & Scams
10 Tips For Giving In a Crisis
How "Psychic Numbing" Stops Us From Giving
Crowdfunding: The Wild West of Charitable Giving
ATTENTION: The charities listed in this alert were Top-Rated by CharityWatch at the time of its publication. CharityWatch updates our ratings throughout the year. To see if a particular charity is currently Top-Rated, please click on its name, below.
Alight has worked with Afghan refugees for nearly two decades, and has meanwhile enrolled more than 1 million out-of-school children into formal and non-formal schools in Pakistan. Their Pakistan team has begun the process of adapting the Radio Muallim program, including translating lessons into local Afghan languages and reaching out to Pakistan radio channels that can help them reach inside Afghanistan.
CARE USA has a detailed business continuity plan that is helping the charity to respond to recent events and adjust its operations accordingly. CARE USA will soon return to distributing cash-based assistance to address the needs of families for food, shelter, and protection.
Catholic Relief Services is currently assisting rural farming families across Afghanistan that are suffering from unprecedented levels of hunger and malnutrition.
Central Asia Institute has begun to distribute emergency assistance for hundreds of families - primarily women and children.
Church World Service (CWS) has been approved to welcome more than 3,000 resettled Afghans in the United States and that number will likely go up in the future.
Doctors Without Borders USA (Medecins Sans Frontieres) teams in Afghanistan continue to provide medical care across five projects in Herat, Helmand, Kandahar, Khost, and Kunduz provinces. The charity and its 2,300 staff members working in the country have been providing medical care and sustaining health services under extreme political and other pressures. Today the charity is responding to a range of medical needs, from treating acute malnutrition and providing maternal health services to caring for people living with drug-resistant tuberculosis.
HIAS is addressing the tremendous needs of the Afghan evacuees in a number of ways. They are committed to providing their clients with critical services and support throughout crises and beyond. HIAS is advocating for Afghans with members of Congress and the administration, most recently helping to secure billions for Afghan resettlement, and they have held briefings with Capitol Hill staff, NGO partners, and community partners.
Human Rights First has developed resources to help Afghans protect their online identities from the Taliban - including deleting digital histories and evading the misuse of biometric data.
International Rescue Committee is providing vital support to Afghans who have endured four decades of violent conflict, as well as natural disasters and the spread of COVID-19. They are supporting health facilities, installing hand-washing stations in local communities, and providing information and training sessions about COVID-19. They are providing safe learning spaces in rural areas, helping people find employment, and working with local communities to identify, plan, and manage their own development projects.
Samaritan's Purse recently deployed their DC-8 cargo jet loaded with 19 tons of medical kits, hygiene kits, blankets, and other critical items to assist those who have been evacuated from Afghanistan. The supplies are being distributed on the region to those in great distress. The plane also carried their disaster assistance response team (DART), including medical personnel, to provide additional capacity to medical facilities that are treating the sick and suffering. They have disaster response specialists working in five different locations where Afghanistan evacuees are temporarily staying. 
"Semper Fi & America's Fund's Afghan Interpreters Welcome Fund" provides aid to Afghan Interpreters and Afghan Special Immigrant Visa holders who worked side-by-side with U.S. Armed Forces during the war. They and their families had to flee Afghanistan and are now facing many daunting challenges as they work to create their new lives in the United States. Semper Fi & America's Fund is providing immediate financial help for food, housing, transportation, and clothing as well as connections to rescue organizations, employment resources, English language classes, and mental health resources.
Team Rubicon is working in coordination with local partners (and an organization by the name of Welcome.US) to help transition Afghan families into their new homes across the U.S. They have set up warehouse space for the management of donated goods, establishing an intake site for donations including basic household goods, furniture, hygiene items, and casual culturally acceptable clothes.
United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is working through large and small-scale agricultural demonstrations and interventions, skills training in a variety of ways, education on water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), maternal health, financial literacy, peace building and community leadership training, and help with infrastructure such as latrines and clean water solutions. Their teams work alongside Afghan villagers to find solutions that work for their community.
United States Fund for UNICEF humanitarian relief efforts in Afghanistan include addressing soaring rates of severe malnutrition among children, vaccinating against preventable diseases, and paying teachers to keep public schools going.