Light years away from the wealthy world, Afghani-stan has been reeling under the worst humanitarian crisis. The financial crisis has engulfed the home of about 38 million humans in South Asia. Around 24.4 million Afghans are either hungry or in serious need of humanitarian support. Conflict, Covid and drought bit the war-ridden state bitterly. The hu-manitarian situation in the state was already in a bad state even before the Islamist hardliner Taliban snatched the power corridor by force. But the crisis has deepened since the Taliban’s return to power in August. The Healthcare system is pathetic. Prices of essential commodities are skyrocketing and jobs are disappearing. Moreover, the state is battered by poverty. Meanwhile, a cruel winter has settled, leav-ing millions of Afghans including minors without proper winter clothing.
The Taliban is desperate to get international recog-nition and aid to quickly mitigate a few of those challenges. But there is no clarity or credible move by the Taliban yet. The female children are kept out of classrooms, despite several warnings from the west. People are beaten and tortured. Human rights and fundamental rights of the citizens are not pro-tected. People are living in panic. As a conse-quence, the west and even the South Asian neighbours of Afghanistan are disinclined to deal with the Taliban. The world is waiting and watch-ing. Neither Pakistan nor her mighty mate China has officially recognized the government yet.
Afghanistan received aid worth $1.6 billion from the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitar-ian Affairs (UNOCHA) last year. The agency says $4.5 billion more will be required this year. The UN’s refugee agency UNHCR will pledge $623 million separately. A UN estimation suggests the crisis in Afghanistan demands at least $200 million a month to avert the disaster. — KHAAMA PRESS
