Of all the images we will remember in 2021, people clamouring to escape Afghanistan will be one of those that stays with us. Even in the midst of another desperately challenging year – a year of Covid, conflict and climate breakdown – the sight of such desperation was visceral.
We all felt some sense of powerlessness watching the situation unfold; a population that has already been through far too much let down once again. Four months on, we are failing them again, except this time it is within our power to stop it.
Hunger now stalks every corner of Afghanistan as a prolonged drought continues to ravage food supply, while international economic sanctions on the new regime have crippled the banking system and the functioning of the country.
The number of children being admitted to hospital for hunger-related conditions has already doubled in many areas in a matter of months
The economic sanctions in place will not harm those intended to feel the impact but the ordinary Afghan people who have already been pushed beyond the limit.
In the last 20 years Afghanistan was made heavily dependent on aid. More than 75 per cent of public spending in the country was funded by foreign aid grants. The sudden withdrawal of development assistance to the country following the Taliban takeover has been brutal and devastating.
The sanctions now imposed are hurting not only the poorest but all of those who cannot access their salaries or savings to buy food, the price of which is sky-rocketing. They are hurting the teachers, the doctors, the shopkeepers – not the key political figures.
The markets, urban and rural, contain plenty of fresh produce yet the ordinary people have quite literally nothing to pay for it with. Many public service workers haven’t been paid since the summer.
Many now walk hours to work as transportation has collapsed across vast areas of the country. Despite not receiving payment in months, they hold fast to their jobs and the prospect of future payment.
Meanwhile, the cost of survival (it cannot be described as the cost of living) is sky-rocketing; the only things dropping are the temperatures, people’s hope and resilience. The possibility that post-war, humanitarian need and human suffering could be worse than that experienced during the war itself is unconscionable.
More than half of the Afghan population is now in need of humanitarian assistance. Of the 38 million people living in Afghanistan, 22.8 million across the country are facing food insecurity – and more than half of these are children. More than eight million people are one step away from famine.
The number of children being admitted to hospital for hunger-related conditions has already doubled in many areas in a matter of months. UNICEF has warned that there are about 3.2 million children who are acutely malnourished and 1.1 million children who are at risk of death from starvation-related conditions.
The sight of children dying from hunger on hospital wards is exceptionally disturbing, but it is all the more appalling because this was forewarned across the globe months ago in every non-government organisation situation report, in every news outlet, across social media.
The international community cannot empower Afghanistan's women by depriving them and their families of the basic means for survival
Aid agencies warned that if the international community dragged its feet in establishing relations with the Taliban in government, the humanitarian consequences would be dire because of the suspension of billions of dollars of annual foreign assistance to Afghanistan.
It has taken the World Bank four months to agree to the release of $280 million (€247 million) for the provision of much-needed food and health services across Afghanistan; a positive eventual move but it is nowhere near what is needed in the coming weeks alone to save lives.
Aid agencies are working through the obstacles to deliver assistance to those most at risk. We are providing cash and emergency shelter items as the winter deepens, as well as food and hygiene support for displaced populations. We are scaling up as fast as possible in this very challenging environment.
The truth is, however, that even without the complex challenges slowing delivery of humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan, humanitarian aid would not be enough to ameliorate the suffering or arrest the spiral of economic breakdown.
The sudden withdrawal of development assistance – what was equivalent to 43 per cent of Afghanistan’s gross domestic product – would push any society to the brink of collapse, but to one already ravaged by years of war, underinvestment and drought, it is especially devastating.
Donors have legitimate concerns when it comes to formalising their relationship with Afghanistan’s new regime, but engagement without delay is critical. Providing humanitarian assistance, or funds for paying teachers and health workers, does not condone or support the restriction of freedoms or undermine women’s rights in the country. It is the most basic support needed to avoid catastrophe.
The United Nations has not yet declared a famine in Afghanistan, but famine declarations generally come after many thousands have died.
People in Afghanistan are already on the brink of starvation. We need to immediately reinstate expanded assistance to state institutions to provide essential services, healthcare, education and the basics of a functional financial system.
The international community cannot empower Afghanistan’s women by depriving them and their families of the basic means for survival.
We must change our approach, and we must do it fast.
Réiseal Ní Chéilleachair is head of international advocacy at Concern Worldwide