On the verge of humanitarian crisis

The looming humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan is “as bad as you possibly can imagine”, if described in the words of the UN World Food Programme Executive Director, David Beasley. “We’re now looking at the worst humanitarian crisis on Earth,” he told the BBC. Quoting a UN report, he said, “[About] 95% of the people don’t have enough food, and now we’re looking at 23 million people marching towards starvation… The next six months are going to be catastrophic. It is going to be hell on Earth.”

The same report also said that 3.2 million Afghan children under five could suffer acute malnutrition. This 23 million estimate for acute food insecurity has almost doubled in the past two months, and experts fear it could increase if the coming winter is harsher than predicted. Afghanistan’s total population is about 39 million. With some parts of the country reporting drought and western countries cutting off their aid due to concerns over the Taliban’s policies on issues including women’s rights, aid agencies and observers say the situation is bleak.

And it is not just a problem of money not coming in. Banking restrictions placed on the country since the Taliban came to power mean that there is no safe and reliable way to send funds to aid agencies and workers. We should also mention that the banking restrictions and the general collapse of the domestic banking system – which was heavily reliant on foreign funding – have also made it difficult for people to get their salaries.

We are already reading horrifying stories of people selling their daughters so that they can buy food. Some of these children were babies. All of them will likely become child brides, or worse. Those who refuse to take such extreme measures acknowledge that, without aid, they and their children will probably die.

Western leaders fear the optics of appearing to support the Taliban government. We wonder why they are not concerned about the optics of their do-nothing policies causing millions of avoidable deaths. “We’re working to get education for all the girls in Afghanistan,” Norwegian Refugee Council Secretary General Jan Egeland said. “But it would be the ultimate insult if these girls died while we are discussing their right to secondary education,” he bluntly added. Egeland also said the scale of the humanitarian crisis should outweigh any political concerns about the Taliban benefitting from any aid.

Meanwhile, Iran and Pakistan, despite offering assistance, have serious economic problems of their own. Neither country is in position to safely accommodate the hundreds of thousands of new refugees crossing their borders. We must also note that for all of Europe’s claims of allowing in refugees, Iran and Pakistan both individually host more Afghan refugees than the entire European continent.

Pakistan, for its part, is sending food aid and cutting tariffs on Afghan exports. Islamabad is also planning to host an Organisation of Islamic Cooperation moot next month to discuss and encourage more aid for Afghanistan. But Afghanistan may not even have a month. Some estimates say the crisis is just weeks away. Under such circumstances, rich countries’ failure to intervene reflects moral bankruptcy. There is no other way to put it.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, November 15^th, 2021.

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