More than half of Afghanistan’s population faces a food shortage that will worsen with winter

Winter has come to Afghanistan and the ranks of hunger continue to grow, with more than half of the population in short supply of food, while restrictions on the new Taliban regime continue to limit humanitarian aid.

One of the leaders of the Islamist group assured Efe during an informal conversation in his office that Afghanistan is a proud country that does not like to beg. The need, however, has driven thousands of Afghans to the streets.

During frequent traffic jams in Kabul, dozens of children pounce on car windows, hang from the hood, or sit in the middle of the road to beg for one of the worn-out bills worth a few cents on the dollar.

Meanwhile, in one of the distribution points of the World Food Program (WFP), dozens of people wait in several lines with their ration cards, in what is the second distribution of this organization in the area in less than a month.

Food distribution

Sameer Ahmad Sadozai, one of the coordinators in this center in PD-7, in the south of Kabul, explains that in this area there are about 1,620 beneficiary families, who receive a 46 kilogram bag of flour, an 8.4 bag kg of corn, another 1 kg of salt, and a five-liter bottle of oil.

“We go to their houses door to door to give them the cards. Now, at this point, we have distributed around 1,200 people (in two days) and the process will continue. Those who have not come today we will call them so they can pick up their food. “Tomorrow, a chilled Sadozai details.

Everything is in order. Outside the compound, several Taliban fighters make sure that no incident occurs and, little by little, they allow access to the place.

Inside, between sacks of corn and flour, the beneficiaries are divided into lines, where they write down the data, pierce the card and mark their finger with indelible ink. Later, when it’s their turn, an employee loads their food onto a wheelbarrow.

The pace is frantic and outside the compound, a new line of wheelbarrows pushed by children waits to take over and carry the load to a vehicle in exchange for a few Afghans, while a Taliban with a piece of hose tries to put order.

Unlike the beggars who flood the city, many of those waiting in the distribution center seem recent needy, victims of the crisis that has hit the country, accentuated by the loss of jobs and the cut off of the flow of international aid since the Taliban returned to power on August 15.

In one of the rows is Mohammad Rafi, who arrived in a hurry just before the center closed after a friend’s notice and was loaned 300 Afghanis (about three dollars) to be able to travel to the place in a vehicle with which to load the food.

“Our economic situation is very bad, we are a family of seven and I am the sole breadwinner for my family. My house is also in poor condition and we don’t even have a carpet to cover the floor or bread to eat,” Rafi laments to Efe .

The WFP warns that “a human crisis of incredible proportions has become even more complex and serious since the Taliban took control, (…) with 22.8 million Afghans – or more than half the population – without enough food. “

Furthermore, acute malnutrition is above emergency thresholds in 25 of 34 provinces and is expected to worsen, with nearly half of children under 5 years of age and a quarter of pregnant and lactating women in need of nutritional support. I saved their lives in the next 12 months, complaint.

“Child malnutrition”

The spokesman for the Ministry of Public Health of the new Taliban government, Dr. Jawid Hazhir, explained to Efe that “at the moment there are more than 3.5 million children with malnutrition” in Afghanistan, and the stoppage of international aid prevents them from making faced with the necessary resources to this critical situation.

“In the previous government, about 95% of the health sector in Afghanistan was supported by foreign agencies (and) only 5% of the health sector belonged to the Government (…) With the arrival of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (as calling themselves the Taliban), suddenly everything changed, “Hazhir explained.

Now, he adds, the situation “is not good”, although he rules out the collapse of the health system.

At the Indira Gandhi hospital in Kabul, “every day malnourished (children) arrive due to energy and protein deficiencies, but unfortunately” there is no capacity to accept more, pediatrician Mohammad Hamayoon explains to Efe, while he attends to his patients.

The children come from different provinces in the country, such as a five-year-old with cerebral palsy caused by acute malnutrition who has just arrived from southern Kandahar. He has a cadaverous face and exposed ribs, without muscle or fat.

“Now he has a high fever, he coughs and sometimes vomits (…) He cannot walk, he is too weak. I hope we can treat his malnutrition (…) and he can return to his province,” he says.

In another of the rooms, in a thick and charged environment between electric stoves, a dozen malnourished babies wrapped in thick blankets accompanied by their mothers try to get by.

One of them, with cerebral palsy and assisted breathing due to pneumonia, “is improving day by day.” Another of the malnourished has diarrhea, but the pediatrician is optimistic: “I hope our little girl gets better soon,” he concludes. (I)