Afghanistan
Looming Food Crisis in Afghanistan: 1.1 Million Children on the Verge of Starvation
Since the takeover, the Taliban regime has waged constant unrest and war in Afghanistan. The newest in the queue is in the form of wheat shortage leading the nation to a severe food crisis.
Recent estimates by United Nations estimate a spiking number of hungry, wasting-away children admitted into hospital wards. The report predicts at least 1.1 million children under the age of five are at risk of slipping into severe malnutrition by the end of 2022.
A Starving Afghanistan
The line for food aid begins to snake around the block hours before the gates open. Hundreds of hungry Afghans queue up in the Kabul neighborhood under the keen vigilance of armed Taliban guards to collect their meager monthly rations.
Pointing to her skinny daughter Reyhana, Simin, an Afghan woman waiting for her turn in the queue, says, “She would die if we did not have this aid“. With an unemployed husband, the couple now completely relies on aid services to feed their six children.
The once prosperous, middle-class neighborhood of the Afghan capital is also not spared from the economic collapse and starvation brought upon by the Taliban’s takeover. Millions of empty stomachs now rely on the aid distributions like this; where each family receives a 50 kg bag of flour, some beans, cooking oil, and salt.
Spanning over the country, the food aid feeds over 20 million people and has become a critical lifeline for Afghanistan.
Taliban officials, however, are planning to cut back on the food program as the financial shortfalls widen. In addition, the Russia-Ukraine war, international reluctance to contribute, and global inflation have further added to Afghanistan’s skyrocketing price of food.
And, given the uncertainties, the Taliban is now preparing for the impending winter crisis.
A Disturbing Picture
Approximately 23 million people suffer from severe hunger, with youngsters bearing the brunt of the issue. According to the U.N., 14 million children are at risk of starving, and over 1.1 million children under five will likely suffer from the most severe form of malnutrition this year.
As the country’s poverty level rises and more Afghans become desperate for help; a growing number of hungry, wasting children crowd the already packed medical wards on a regular basis.
To make matters worse, the war in Ukraine is driving up global food costs, and pledges of international support have so far failed to materialize. They are, however, straining to keep up with the ever-worsening conditions. As a result, the most vulnerable suffer, including children and women fighting to feed their families.
According to humanitarian agencies, Afghan children starve to death practically every day. Parents hold underweight newborns in Afghanistan hospitals, despite overcrowded rooms with ill youngsters, in heartbreaking photographs.
The news report below by DW news shows the horrifying reality of Afghanistan:
But what has led Afghanistan to this nightmare?
Why is Afghanistan Starving?
The roots of Afghanistan’s severe food crisis are multifaceted. First, the international community’s cut-off of non-humanitarian aid, frozen assets abroad, imposed sanctions on the new regime, and the worst drought in forty years have led Afghanistan’s fragile institution to an economic and humanitarian crisis.
With hospital wards packed with malnourished kids, Afghanistan’s hunger crisis is worsening daily. Facing one of the most acute droughts in decades, the aid-reliant middle-Eastern Nation is amidst a massive economic crisis.
The three major contributors to the current food crisis are:
Climate Catastrophe coupled with Taliban Takeover.
The La Nia of 2021 hit the country at the worst possible time. With the political upheaval in Afghanistan, the hardline Islamist party stormed to power in August 2021, buoyed by the United States’ disorderly exit from the country following a 20-year conflict.
Afghanistan’s wheat output decreased by 30% during last year’s harvest, resulting in a country’s food shortage. It was further worsened with the drought that began in 2021, which turned out to be the worst drought in forty years.
Moreover, with the Taliban cutting on food aid, Afghanistan’s cry for more food is becoming increasingly difficult to answer.
International Sanctions Imposed on Afghanistan
Following the Taliban’s takeover, financial help was abruptly cut off, worsening the country’s dearth of basic necessities. During the US-led era, the international community paid over 80% of the Afghan government’s budget, including ministries and public services like education and healthcare.
However, post the Taliban takeover, the U.S. has blocked nearly $9 billion of Afghanistan’s central bank reserves to prevent the Taliban administration from obtaining the assets.
Lack of Funding
The United Nations and other aid agencies supplying help in the country are increasingly running out of resources. Melanie Galvin, chief of UNICEF Afghanistan, highlights the steep fall in funding in the past couple of months.
When the U.S. troops left the lands, most western funding vanished quickly.
In December 2021, Unicef issued its largest-ever single country appeal for aid and funding of $2billion for Afghanistan. Over a million malnourished children are standing on the verge of death. Pushing even the recovered children in diabetes, obesity, and depression, the current food crisis could have lasting health issues for an entire generation.
Afghans Forced to Pay a Heavy Grevious Price
Current Afghanistan is no place to be young. To the starving young children, it doesn’t matter that the Americans have gone and the Taliban is now ruling the country. What matters is that they don’t have enough to eat, and they are forced slowly but inevitably towards demise.
Aid organizations need funding to help the starving children and dying hope.
Nothing is worse than watching your child die out of hunger. Yet, thousands of Afghans are forced to live with this agonizing reality. As cold little bodies line up in the hospitals, the cry for help scorches louder. Decades of fighting have ended, and yet another generation seems born to suffer.
“The world is watching us and doing nothing “
said an Afghan women NGO worker interviewee on BBC.
The Taliban tore apart Islamic principles towards women after seizing control over Kabul in August 2021. And there is no sign of them stopping in 2023, either.
The recent ban on women aid workers is one of the many instances that display the lengths the Taliban can go to oppress Afghan women while the world watches from afar.
Like many lost news, the realities of millions of Afghan women suffering under the autocratic regime have become third-world stories. But, for those of you who still care, here’s how women are surviving in 2023’s Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.
Afghan Women Under Fresh Restrictions: Banned Aid Workers
An official letter by the Taliban reached the ministry to refugees in Kandahar decreeing a ban on women working for the United Nations from providing vital humanitarian assistance.
“All partner organizations that are working with the Department of Refugees and Repatriation of Spin Boldak … should ask their female colleagues not to come to their work and stay at home until further notice.”
The letter read
According to the Taliban, the restrictions on women working with UN humanitarians for refugees are sustained as the ministry for refugees in Kandahar is violating orders related to working with refugees.
The ministry said they observed women breaking Sharia law by failing to wear the hijab. However, the UN secretary has condemned such a ban and said, “it would be devastating for Afghan women”.
Such a ban on women will make it harder for aid organizations to help people in Afghanistan. As women make up almost half of the population of Afghanistan. This ban will not only make life harder for women, but it will also increase suffering for people across Afghanistan.
The Consequences of the Ban on Women Working for NGOs are Far-Reaching.
According to the source, 28 million people in Afghanistan need humanitarian assistance, and such crusades of female restriction will further risk the lives of millions of people.
A spokesperson for the International Rescue Committee, Samira Sayed Rahman, said – “It is practically impossible to continue our work without female staff. This is a conservative society, and we need female workers to access women. This is a country where men and women do not interact in public spaces. We would be cut off from half of Afghanistan.“
The challenges are not just limited to assisting female patients. But it also causes financial loss to many female workers who have been the only breadwinner in the family.
There are many female workers who are acting as the main earners in their household and say, “If I cannot go to my job, who can support my family?”
National and international NGOs have been informed with strict statements to stop allowing women workers to work on refugee operations. Furthermore, the government of the Taliban has threatened to cancel the organization’s license if any women workers are seen practicing in refugee operations.
The Cruel Afghan Winter
With the winters ahead, temperatures across Afghanistan will plunge to as low as -17C and even lower in mountainous areas.
With no electricity, below average sanitation system, a ban on girls’ education, and the shutting down of higher secondary schools, the days are coming hard for Afghans, especially women.
The Taliban government has already imposed dozens of bans on Afghan women that hinder human rights and make their lives more difficult. Being on the list of poorest countries in the world, Afghanistan’s economic condition will worsen more under such bans.
UN’s Strict Actions Against the Ban by the Taliban
With immediate effect, the UN has temporarily suspended some of its “time-critical” programs in Afghanistan. Because the Taliban has banned women from working as aid workers, the UN has stopped providing essential services to the Afghan people, such as food, water, and medical care.
Moreover, The United Nations has warned Afghanistan that many other programs may also need to be paused if the Taliban does not reverse its ban on women aid workers.
The organization says that the ban is “unacceptable” and that it “will have a devastating impact on the people of Afghanistan.” The United Nations is also warning that the ban could lead to a humanitarian crisis.
The Taliban has not yet responded to the United Nations’ call to reverse its ban. However, the United States assured that they would continue coordinating closely with their allies and partners, including the United Nations, to deliver aid to the people of Afghanistan.
Moreover, the United States also assured that they would take all necessary steps to prevent the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan from getting worse.
The Need for Serious Attention in Afghanistan
During the first press conference after seizing control over Afghanistan, the Taliban spokesperson assured the safety of women in the country.
The spokesperson established the impression of not imposing Sharia law on women in the country. However, These restrictions contradict the commitments made by the Taliban to the Afghan people as well as the expectations of the international community.
The restrictions on getting an education, learning, going for jobs, or doing business by women deeply alarm the need for attention in Afghanistan. The Taliban’s restrictions on women are a serious setback for the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan. And it should be condemned by big heads like the USA, UK, and European countries with high priority.
The international community must continue to pressure the Taliban to reverse its restrictions on women. The restrictions are a major obstacle to the development of Afghanistan, and they are having a devastating impact on the lives of millions of Afghan women and girls.
Women banned from schools and colleges. Women flogged in markets with dozens of spectators. Girls, as young as 15, mandated to wear complete body covering: These are the horrifying reality Afghan women are forced to live in every day.
Rules of Sharia on Every Moment
Women’s freedom of movement and access to their bodies continue to be restricted in Taliban-run Afghanistan. The draconian group imposed huge barriers on women’s even basic needs: health, education, migration, and expression, depriving thousands of many of their right to earn a livelihood.
Women in Afghanistan have already suffered the most significant losses due to the war and militarization. However, with the control of the Taliban over the nation, the future and dreams of Afghan women are collapsing drastically.
Afghan Women: The Future Looks Dark
The Taliban treat women and girls brutally, and they are forbidden from attending secondary and higher education. Migration and independent travel for women is prohibited. They are not even permitted to migrate or travel without a male chaperone. Girls as young as 13 are forced into marriage.
The Taliban administration has abolished the Ministry of Women Affairs in Afghanistan due to its extreme depravity. There are now no female cabinet members in the Afghan government, thereby ending political participation of 50% of the population.
Following the takeover of Afghanistan, the schools and colleges were forcibly compelled to enact new regulations. It includes gender-apartheid entrances and classrooms. Only female professors or older men can instruct female students. Additionally, the authorities closed the Madressa that solely taught female students.
The future of Afghan women appears bleak with such harsh restrictions and draconian rules. The local women have various aspirations. Young girls want to finish their education and pursue careers in large corporations. But at the moment, it looks gloomy and almost impossible for Afghan women.
Lost Careers & Starving Families
Women-founded business is facing the worst time under Taliban.
Women investors have left their positions or hired males to do their business Women entrepreneurs claim they have invested thousands of Afghanis in the previous government but are currently compelled to close their firms.
The current environment prevents women from freely engaging in small-scale business or employment. Even when women are the only source of income for their families, Afghan women no longer dare to start their businesses.
If these conditions persist, many Afghan families will go hungry.
In Afghanistan, the handicraft industry thrived before the Taliban’s leadership, giving thousands of women jobs. Clothing, goods, and handicraft products were exported to Australia and New Zealand.
However, after the Taliban seized control, the industry went bankrupt due to a policy that discriminated against women and flying restrictions that reduced trade and affected the business adversely.
Afghan Women’s Lives at risk
The women’s crisis in Afghanistan keeps escalating — the restrictions, limitations, and dictatorship have gone too far ahead.
Due to a shortage of healthcare services, Afghan women face significant difficulties. They are restricted from visiting doctors without a male companion, and in some cities, women are not allowed to visit male doctors while the number of female physicians in the nation is closing to nil.
Additionally, women and girls are denied access to healthcare, and reports even imply that they are subjected to assault with no means of fleeing.
The restriction of female students from secondary and higher education violates their right to education and limits female students from reaching their full potential.
Banning female students from getting an education increases child marriages, early pregnancy, abuse, and violence.
Because when you stop 50% of the population from participating in the workforce, your economy falls. Health clinics are running out of medical supplies and professionals, schools do not have enough teachers, the economy is dying, and people at the bottom are bearing the brunt.
Almost every house headed or led by women has lacked sufficient food due to the rise in fuel, food prices, and no source of income. The situation has worsened due to the drought and the war in Ukraine. It is difficult to see women becoming beggars along with their children.
The current situation of Afghan women is deteriorating in the virtual prisoner environment. Taliban restrictions have made women’s financial hardships worse. The lives of Afghan women are seriously at stake, and many women feel it would be better if they had died in the war.
The Silver Line But a Long Way Ahead
UNICEF and NGOs are defending Afghan women and trying to help them as much as possible. The United Nations has repeatedly emphasized that it is committed to carrying out its mission in Afghanistan and promoting the rights of women and girls in the region.
UNFPA is enhancing its existence and helping women through Afghanistan socialism and is collaborating with national partners. UNICEF assumes responsibility for paying the teachers’ monthly salaries and providing them with the necessities for survival. UNFPA is also contributing its share to expand the provision of sexual and reproductive health services, again, for women in rural areas.
But it’s not enough, especially with Taliban banning female NGO employees from coming to work.
To rescue innocent women and children from this catastrophe, more social organizations must advance in light of their responsibility and the current state of Afghan women.
The Taliban should be put under pressure by international organizations and governments to fully implement gender equality and defend the human rights of all Afghan women and girls.
Organizations must quickly realize that women should be given the reins for recovery, peace, stability, and basic rights. Unless that is, the lives of Afghan women continue to deteriorate, and their dreams continue to collapse EVERY SINGLE DAY!
-
Featured1 year agoWorld passively watching as Israel perpetrates open-ended massacre in Gaza
-
Featured2 years ago
Argentina wins the World Cup; are there any other winners?
-
Featured1 year ago
Israel is Hiding Crucial Demographic Facts About Palestinians
-
Featured3 years ago
History of the Ottoman Empire
-
Featured4 years ago
“Do Not Waste Water Even If You Were at a Running Stream” Prophet Muhammad
-
Featured2 years ago
Christian militia infiltrate Lebanon
-
Featured1 year ago
Muhammed: The Greatest Man to walk on Earth
-
Featured2 years ago
World Leaders Remain Silent Over Human Rights Violations in the UAE
