Seemingly, a bitterly cold winter is approaching, whilst many struggle to survive hunger. The persistent rain and sinister cloud is an alarm for the homeless and barefoot individuals who wander the streets. Moreover, the widows who survive on begging, the street vendors, the addicts and the hapless orphans must be in a highly critical state. They need an urgent shoulder to cry on, don’t they?
The non-smoking chimneys of the mud huts bespeak of lack of fuels. Since the prices increase in winter, the workmen, with blistered hands, cannot afford to buy fuels and the necessary expenses. The internally displaced individuals, who spend in refugee camps, have to grin and bear it, despite all the economic constraints. What about their vulnerable children? What if they be in need of medicines and physicians? Does one care if they lose their lives in the corner of the camps? These are the questions to be answered by the officials.
According to reports, funding shortfalls have forced the World Food Programme (WFP) to cut rations for up to 1 million people in Afghanistan. Country director Claude Jibidar said that the UN food assistance agency, which runs on donations from member countries, faces a gap of about $30 million for its programme in Afghanistan. He added, “We have had to cut down the rations of the people we are assisting, just so that we can buy some time, so we don’t stop altogether.”
He said the cuts, to 1,500 calories a day from 2,100, would affect up to 1 million people, many of whom have had to flee their homes because of the escalating war between the Taliban insurgency and the Western-backed Afghan government. Hence, for those displaced by the war, the prospect that food aid could stop is grim.
“If the food rations get stopped, we will die of hunger,” said Fatima, an elderly woman who lives with eight family members in a mud hut on Kabul’s eastern outskirts. The family was forced to flee their home in Helmand, a southern province where fighting has been fierce, and they have no income except what Fatima’s grandchildren bring in from begging on the streets. She said she had received food from a U.N. agency in past winters, and was counting on help this coming season. She further added, “We don’t have firewood and food to eat. If our children get sick, we have no money to treat them.”
Afghanistan has been the recipient of tens of billions of dollars in aid since 2001, when the Taliban’s harsh government based on a strict interpretation of Islam was toppled by a US-led invasion.
The country remains in great need. The WFP helps feed a total of 3.7 million Afghans, or about 10 per cent of the population. With most foreign combat troops due to withdraw at the end of this year, many humanitarian groups fear aid flows will dry up as donors focus on other crises, including combating the Ebola virus and helping refugees from the wars in Syria and Iraq.
Already there are signs of Afghanistan fatigue among donors. This year’s UN humanitarian appeal for the country, $400 million, is so far $158 million short, even though the UN lowered its appeal by 14 per cent this year.
According to Danielle Moylan, advocacy manager for the Norwegian Refugee Council, while international donors have been generous to Afghanistan over the years, the country’s needs are likely to only increase.
“We certainly hope that it doesn’t mean that donors are turning their backs on Afghanistan,” Moylan said. “If you are withdrawing militarily, you must increase humanitarian assistance because the needs are increasing.” Most international troops will leave Afghanistan at the end of this year, winding up the combat phase of the mission that began with ousting the Taliban over the shelter they gave the Al Qaeda planners of the Sept 11 attacks in the United States.
Afghans must not be convinced of being given fish rather they must learn fishing. It is really surprising to see that the more they eat, the hungrier they get and stretch out their hands to foreign countries more than ever before. Within the last 13 years of Karzai’s government, we should have stood on our own feet. But due to administrative corruption, Mafia, and drug smugglers, all Afghans’ hopes went up in smoke.
The new government is left with many challenges to deal seriously with. However, the fact is that dealing with them all cannot be done overnight. The strictness of new President Ashraf Ghani is a matter of great satisfaction for Afghan people. Being unhappy with the failure of the last decade, he struggles hard and has achieved successfully up to now.
It should be considered by the officials that the bulk of the challenges are ahead of them. The problems are much interconnected that disregarding one of them may cause failure to the other. For instance, if administrative corruption or drug smuggling or insecurity continue in the same trend, economic constraints will not only remain unsolved but the graph of poverty rises more than ever. So, hope the new government deals them all so as to get the desired fruit.
Prayerfully, the officials may fulfill their promises and the public’s expectations honestly. They are asked to learn from the past fiasco and act more determinedly. It is emphasized again that presidential palace and luxury buildings should not make them turn back to the hungry stomachs and miserable lives of the poor.