As 35-year-old Zarghuna, mother of two narrates her struggle ever since the Taliban took over Afghanistan on August 15, she said, ‘We can go hungry, but we worry about our children. They cry because they are hungry. We just have dinner in the evening. Sometimes we don’t even have that and we go to sleep without eating anything. In the morning, we just have tea,’ she told the Independent UK.
Since the US withdrew its troops ending a two-decade war in Afghanistan, the country has faced a grave humanitarian crisis. Zaghuna’s eight-year-old son has also begun to feel the effects of the crisis. In his words, ‘We have bread and rice, but never meat or fruit. We have so little food that I become worried. Sometimes, if there is no food, I go to sleep without eating anything’.
The family now eats raw flour. Zarghuna said, ‘Our situation is not good. A few days ago, we received a sack of flour and we started to eat that. Everything has become expensive. We cannot buy flour and oil anymore because the price is too high’. Having children aged between one and 15, Zarghuna said the crisis has been so serious that the family can only afford one meal per day due to rising food prices.
Earlier this year, the United Nations had warned that millions of Afghans, including children, may starve to death if urgent action isn’t taken to save the country. According to the WFP’s David Beasley, 22.8 million people – more than half of Afghanistan’s 39 million people – face acute food insecurity and are ‘marching to starvation’ compared to 14 million just two months ago. Climate change has exacerbated the food crisis in Afghanistan, which was dire even before the Taliban took over. The new administration is unable to access assets held overseas as nations struggle to deal with the hard-lining Islamists.
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The Taliban have not been able to pay wages to civil servants, and Afghans are selling possessions to buy food, and urban areas are experiencing food insecurity at levels similar to rural areas for the first time. Concerned about human rights under the Taliban, aid groups are calling on countries to engage with the new rulers to prevent a collapse they believe could trigger a migration crisis like the 2015 exodus from Syria that shook Europe.
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