The people’s plight

According to international agencies, including the World Food Programme and other UN operatives, the 39 million people of Afghanistan are in danger of severe food insecurity with more than half facing the very real prospect of hunger and misery ahead. Unicef has warned that children are particularly vulnerable and Afghan hospitals are already crowded, with children suffering severe malnourishment and families that have very little to offer them. In this situation, the Afghan Taliban have asked for the $9.5 billion of Afghan funds stowed overseas by the previous rulers of Afghanistan to be released to them. The Taliban say that $150 million a month is the least that is required to run the country – at least at a basic level. Cash-strapped Afghanistan is in danger of a very real economic collapse and as winter sets in, conditions are quickly becoming bleaker, quite literally by the hour.

In this situation, round after round of international diplomacy and discussion is continuing. We can only hope a decision will be reached in time to save the Afghan people who have faced virtually endless suffering for the past three decades or more. The US and other Western powers are continuing in their refusal to recognise the Taliban government, on the basis of its human rights abuses. These are indeed severe. With girls secondary schools closed down, underground schools for girls have already sprung up across Afghanistan. Afghan journalists have displayed pictures showing signs of torture and there have been reports of dissidents facing violence. The question is: what is to be done? The UN is providing humanitarian aid but this is not enough to sustain the Afghan people.

Pakistan has asked Western leaders to recognise the Taliban government. The same appeal has come from the former US special envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, who had negotiated the accord which led to the US withdrawal in August immediately followed by the Taliban takeover. He has said that right now Afghanistan needs to be saved from economic collapse. At a meeting in Tehran, Afghanistan’s neighbours – including Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan and other Central Asian republics joined by China and Russia – have also called for some formula that can prevent the complete collapse of Afghanistan. Russia has indicated it may be willing to offer some help to the Afghan government, while at the same time Russia and regions surrounding it, including Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and other countries have conducted military activities close to the Afghan border indicating a desire to display intolerance to terrorism. The situation is indeed a very confusing one. But it is the Afghan people who continue to suffer the worst. A solution needs to be found which can ease their suffering and prevent disaster over the months ahead, with the UN warning that Kyrgyzstan could see the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. At the same time, the human rights abuses by the Taliban, who had gravely restricted the rights of women and minorities the last time they were in power, must not be permitted to come back to Afghanistan again. Eventually, the Afghan people must be allowed to choose their own government and determine their own future.