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Afghanistan On the Edge of Catastrophe
By Sahar Kassaimah
16/02/2001
Afghanistan, a country that has a history and a culture that dates back over 5,000 years, is presently in a disastrous state. Once one of the world's greatest trade routes, it is today one of the poorest, most devastated countries in the world.
Its economy is in ruins, and its people - dying of cold and hunger - are begging the world for food and cover. Impoverished and shattered, the country is suffering from its worst
drought in 30 years, has endured two decades of civil war, and has faced U.N. sanctions in order to force Afghanistan's ruling Taliban to expel Usamah bin Laden and to close what the U.N. says are terrorist training camps.
The U.N. suspects bin Laden, believed to be living in Afghanistan under the protection of the ruling Taliban, of masterminding the deadly bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.
The sanctions come after a 30-day U.N. deadline to hand over bin Laden and close suspected camps. The Taliban' s information minister, Qadratullah Jamal, denied that Afghanistan supports or otherwise trains terrorist and has refused Bin Laden's extradition.
"Our position on Usamah is unchanged. There is no evidence against Usamah. We think this is just an excuse," declared Jamal. "The U.S. and Russia are using the excuse of Usamah and terrorism, but really, it is the Islamic system by Taliban they want to destroy."
The sanctions, which the U.N. said are not meant to target the Afghan people but rather to isolate the Taliban, call for an arms embargo on the Taliban who rule 95% of the country. They also call for the freezing of bin Laden 's and the Taliban's bank accounts and a ban on all air travel to and from Afghanistan except for humanitarian flights.
In addition, the sanctions require the closure of most Taliban offices outside Afghanistan, and the reduction of diplomatic missions in the only three countries who recognize the Taliban: Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and the United Arab Emirates.
However, the facts show that the sanctions will further aggravate Afghanistan's dire circumstances, and that
their effects will fall indirectly on the poorest Afghan people who are already suffering from drought and war.
Humanitarian groups and diplomatic sources as well as many others are concerned about how the sanctions will be implemented and the effect of such measures on a country whose economy has been destroyed by 20 years of war. The Afghan people are very disappointed; they believe that the sanctions are totally unfair and will just bring them more misery.
"What the U.N. is doing is bringing more punishment and hurt upon our heads," said Taj Bibi outside of a hospital in Jalalabad. "My pockets are empty, my stomach is empty."
CNN Correspondent Nick Robertson reported that the Afghan currency has been hard hit, and that the prices of most commodities are up. For instance, the price of antibiotics has risen to $50, four times the monthly salary of the average person in Afghanistan. Robertson also reported that the confidence of foreign investors in the economy has plummeted, leading to their departure.
The World Food Program estimates that up to 1 million Afghans could suffer starvation this winter.
These deep concerns at the rapidly worsening situation come amid reports of the recent deaths of more than 500 people in refugee camps from the cold over the past days - overnight temperatures plunged to minus 25 degrees Centigrade (minus 13 Fahrenheit).
The severe supply shortage in these camps is shocking - more than 5,000 families have been squeezed inside 1,700 tents made of plastic sheets, which of course can't offer protection against temperatures that dip below zero.
A U.N. statement issued in Geneva reported "that deaths from hunger are already occurring and most likely will be very substantial in number during the coming months, and that small children, already suffering from Afghanistan's extraordinarily high 'normal' under-five mortality rate, are most at risk."
Pakistan, itself impoverished, has taken about 170,000 Afghans, driven from their homes and suffering the drought, since September alone. This is in addition to an estimated 2 million Afghanis who have fled the Afghan war since 1979.
In Pakistan, refugees are crowded into small camps with only plastic tents to shelter them against cold temperatures. The country has, so far, refused the pressure of the U.N. to grant additional land to the refugees, fearing it will be left to house and feed them on its own when U.N. aid ends. Rupert Colville of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said that more than two decades of hosting millions of Afghan refugees has understandably put neighbors Pakistan and Iran at the end of their patience.
With conditions worsening and additional disasters predicted, can we wonder now who will pay the price of the sanctions on Afghanistan?
The people - who, with empty pockets and empty stomachs, are squeezed into plastic tents facing death because of cold and hunger, after the misery of 21 years of civil war?
Or the Taliban who, although militarily victorious, has never won the minds and hearts of most Afghan people?
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