Since then, the rainfall and harvest have failed many times. Many people go hungry or lose their land or sheep. But every time some form of international aid prevented widespread hunger. Not this time.
Crops
There is no doubt that this is a climate collapse. Rain did not simply fail. When they came, they fell at the wrong time of the year. It rains heavily, so the soil cannot absorb water.
But Afghan farmers do not rely mainly on rainfall. Snowfall in the mountains is more important. In spring and summer, the snow melts and rivers and irrigation channels bring water to the crops.
As the climate collapses, the temperature rises, the rainfall increases, and the snowfall decreases.
In the past fifty years, the global temperature has risen by 1 degree Celsius. In Afghanistan, they have risen by two degrees.
The drought is getting worse. This year’s drought is more serious than the previous year’s 2018. Across the country, the main staple food wheat crop has lost 25% to 40%.
rain
But crop failures are not even nationwide. In some parts of the country, especially in the northwest, west and south, most of the harvest failed.
About half of the total population, or about 23 million people, are at risk of malnutrition and hunger. This does not mean that 23 million people will die. But many people will.
However, the problem is not just a year’s harvest. During the drought, farmers had to eat the entire crop without any savings for spring planting.
Afghanistan may also have as many as 2 million herders, most of whom are sheep. When there is no pasture and very little water, the sheep will die. In the following year, the herders had very few or no livestock.
Some people hope it will snow this winter, and then it will rain. Early signs indicate that this will not happen. It now appears that the winter of 2022-23 may be much worse than this winter.
banker
The drought in Afghanistan is part of a wider climate disaster affecting the entire Central Asia region, which, like Afghanistan, has been intensifying for decades.
Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world. Nine-tenths of the land is very dry and cannot be cultivated. The Afghans did nothing– No -Bring the climate crisis to humans.
However, Afghans are among the people most affected by the climate crisis.
Stop and think about it. Imagine what it’s like to go through 43 years of war. Then I hoped for peace and found myself in a famine.
The collapse of the climate is one of the two causes of this ongoing famine. The other is the deliberate policy of the US government. Or more accurately, it refers to American politicians, generals, diplomats, and bankers.
Sanctions
The Taliban’s victory in Afghanistan is a great shame to the US government and military. The desperate poor man in sandals defeated the most powerful military force in the world.
The United States has already taken shape in how to deal with such losses. After its defeat in the Vietnam War, the United States imposed sanctions that isolated the country and damaged the economy for a quarter of a century.
They did the same thing to Iran and did the same thing to Iraq after the first Gulf War. They have been doing this in Cuba for 60 years. Now they are doing this to Afghanistan.
After the Taliban’s victory in Afghanistan, the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States confiscated all of the Afghan government’s reserves.
The United States cut off all aid. The World Bank did the same thing. Washington announced that it will impose sanctions on any banks that transfer funds to or from Afghanistan.
Epidemic
The financial system of Afghanistan collapsed. The government cannot pay the salaries of doctors, nurses, teachers, civil servants or police.
During the occupation, foreign aid paid 75% of the government budget. Now that everything is gone, the economy has collapsed.
In previous droughts, international charities and NGOs played a central role in disrupting food. Now they can’t put money in and out of this country. This means they cannot pay people to distribute or move food.
In addition, hospitals and clinics have run out of supplies, and nurses and doctors are not paid. This is important because in many famines, the main killer is not direct starvation, but the effect of disease on a weak and malnourished body.
Of course, there is also an epidemic in Afghanistan.
Humanitarian
None of this is a secret. It is happening in obvious places.this New York Times, this guardian, Al Jazeera Most other media are reporting this.
Indeed, the purpose of sanctions is always to show off after defeat, so that the people of other countries dare not compete with a superpower.
Many senior staff from international aid agencies and the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies have come to the media to protest desperately against the policies of the US government.
This has an impact. Many countries have pledged to provide substantial assistance.
The US government announced that they will contribute to humanitarian assistance. They will also provide specific exceptions on a case-by-case basis, allowing banks to transfer funds into or out of Afghanistan for humanitarian reasons.
punish
But food and medical supplies did not appear on the ground. The economy is still in free fall.
The staff of the aid agency said that the bank still does not allow them to transfer funds. The banker told the institution that they were afraid. Although Washington has recently issued some statements, they worry that the US government will punish them.
The bankers may be right. As far as rescuers know, what the U.S. government said in public was one thing, but in private it was resolute.
This terrible mistake is being made all over the world.Like me, many readers Ecologist Enthusiastically concerned about climate collapse. We march for the climate, protest and worry about the future.
The future is upon us. The Afghans are at the forefront of things that start all over the world. We should help them, not punish them.
bone
It’s time to raise our voice. If enough people protest, in enough countries, some charities, some banks and some governments will have the courage to break the sanctions. If the outbreak is loud enough, even Washington and Biden will be ashamed.
Ecologist It was published in the UK, and so is my home. Let us not forget that our government and the Bank of the City of London are also completely complicit in their policy of punishing the Afghan people from foreign occupation.
The United States, the United Kingdom, and other governments have stated that they do not want to recognize or assist the Taliban because their policies are against women’s rights.
However, most of the dead will be women and children, because most Afghans are women and children. It is the parents, brothers and sisters who are now carrying the small coffin and wailing beside the small grave.
Christina Goldbaum in New York Times Again: “This fall, at the Mirwais Regional Hospital in Kandahar, malnourished and sick children were crammed on the dilapidated metal beds of the pediatric ward.
“In the intensive care unit, the big room is full of weird silence. The children are too weak to cry. They have trouble breathing and their skin is hanging down from the protruding bones.”
This author
Jonathan Neale is a climate activist, novelist and non-fiction writer, on twitter @JonathanNealeA1. Extinguishing You can also get paperbacks from resistance books.Jonathan also co-authored a blog on climate, politics and gender with Nancy Lindisfarne at Anne Bonnie Pirate.
Recommended reading
Mohammed Asam Mayar, Global Warming and Afghanistan: Drought, hunger and thirst are expected to worsen. Afghanistan Analyst Network, November 6
Hannah Duncan and Kate Clark, the imminent disaster in Afghanistan: What’s next for the Taliban and donors? Afghanistan Analyst Network, September 6
Nancy Lindisfarne and Jonathan Neale, Afghanistan-the end of occupation. Anne Bonnie Pirate, August 17
Nancy Lindisfarne and Jonathan Neale, Afghanistan-climate crisis. Anne Bonnie Pirate. September 15
Christina Goldbaum, “Faced with economic collapse, Afghanistan suffers from hunger.” New York Times, December 4
Andreas Stefanssson, Elizabeth Winter, Liv Kjolseht and Jessica Hazelwood, cutting off aid may kill more Afghans than war. Al Jazeera Editorial, December 4
Colin Clark and Jonathan Schroden, “Cruel Incompetence: How the Taliban Failed in Their New Role as Counter-Insurgents.” War on the rock, November 29
David Mansfield Twitter topic.
