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He poses for the last time with the bazooka: a militant fighter shortly before he laid down his weapons in Jalalabad in October 2020 and handed them over to the state. Image: keystone
Poverty, bombs, corona: the ABC of Afghanistan horror
When your own children are groaning with hunger. When you barely have any strength left even on an empty stomach for days. If a bomb goes off again somewhere, for many Afghans it is everyday life.
After decades of civil wars, after droughts and now with the corona pandemic, more than eleven million people need food aid. That is more than a quarter of the population. A good half of the population lives on the poverty line. Therefore, the international community will have to go back to digging into its pockets.
People injured after a suicide bombing on November 9, 2020 in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Image: keystone
The Afghan government wanted to present plans to secure peace and stimulate the economy at a donor conference in Geneva on Tuesday, as Naser Sedikki of the Afghan Finance Ministry had promised. Billions are required for this. The government expects generous support.
The aid organization Deutsche Welthungerhilfe also distributes food, but in the long term it has other goals: “Our aim is to make people independent from humanitarian aid,” reports employee Alexandra Singpiel from Kabul.
The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) also provides self-help assistance, for example in Badachschan province in the northeast of the country. The widow Sang-e Mah (38), a mother of five children, participated in a training course in fruit growing there. He received money and bought seeds for 30 apple and apricot trees. “When they grow up, I will have fruit for the children, I can sell the rest at the market and use the money to buy other things for my family.”
The drought of 2018 and 2019 seriously shook the country. Things slowly improved in the spring, until the corona pandemic hit. Relatives abroad lost their jobs and could no longer send money, day laborers in the cities could no longer find work, food prices skyrocketed because borders were closed and supplies were lacking. Then there is the armed conflict in which people die every day.
On 12 November, journalist Ilyas Dayee was the victim of a targeted bomb attack in Lashkargah, capital of Helmand province. Image: keystone
Skirmishes, bombings and targeted killings are part of everyday life in Afghanistan, and a large part of the predominantly young population grew up with them. Since the US-led invasion after the 9/11 attacks and their expulsion from Kabul, the militant Islamic Taliban have been fighting the Western-backed government. The terrorist militia “Islamic State” (IS) is also active in the country. It was not until the weekend that ISIS attacked the capital with rockets, and numerous people were killed and injured.
An agreement with the United States forced the Taliban to begin peace talks inside Afghanistan in late February. The beginning in mid-September raised new hopes of ending the conflict. However, no ceasefire is in sight. The negotiations could drag on for a long time, says renowned expert Thomas Ruttig of the Kabul Afghanistan Analysts Network think tank. “You have to expect that they are occasionally interrupted due to differences and that the fight will continue during this time.”
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has held the post since 2014. Image: sda
Before the conference, states had called for a decisive fight against corruption. On Sunday, President Ashraf Ghani appointed a new commission for this purpose. One of some. Anti-corruption efforts are “useless” due to the numerous institutions, criticizes Muska Dastageer. “Before the conference, it was certainly expected that donation fatigue and disappointment, particularly with corruption still rampant, could possibly deter donors from making commitments at the level of previous years.”
The war economy encourages corruption, Ruttig explains.
The expert also sees complicity in the international community. “Donor countries even tolerated corruption largely because they believed that only certain allies could be bought.”
The international community is investing in an uncertain future for Afghanistan, also due to the planned withdrawal of NATO forces. But aid money can also be a means of pressure if the Taliban must rejoin the government, Ruttig says. The country has continued to be destroyed and peace will also cost money. “Donor countries bear responsibility for what has happened to Afghanistan in the last 20 years since the intervention and they cannot just walk away.” (sierra / sda / dpa)
