Britain has moral obligation to help the Afghan people
MEET Qasima from Kabul. She lives with her husband Noruddin and their six children. Noruddin lost his senior military job when the previous government was overthrown. He now works as a labourer earning $2 a day.
Although it’s 2,600 miles from Mariupol to Kabul, this family is also living under the dark cloud of the war in Ukraine.
The capital of Afghanistan isn’t being bombed but its poorest people are going hungry and becoming increasingly desperate.
Why? Because food prices are accelerating.
Last year wheat exports from Ukraine and Russia accounted for about 30 per cent of the global market. Without that contribution, 26 countries face losing half their wheat imports, according to the UN.
Even before the invasion food prices were at an all-time high.
The UN’S Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said last month that its Food Price Index had reached a new historical record.
It was 21 per cent above its level a year earlier and 2.2 per cent higher than its previous peak in February 2011.
The war has turbocharged this trend and the FAO is now projecting that wheat prices could rise another 21 per cent.
This means up to 13 million more people could go hungry.
Qasima’s family, like many others in Afghanistan, is already suffering after the economy collapsed when the Taliban took over last August. Spiralling food prices are just the start.
The UK has a moral imperative to act, given its history in the country. Afghanistan, like other struggling countries, mustn’t become a forgotten crisis because of what’s happening in Ukraine.
There was an opportunity last Thursday when the UK, Qatar and German governments co-hosted a UN donor pledging conference with a target of raising $4.4billion.
For a start, the UK should have contributed its fair share but chose not to. Currently, it remains at the same level as it was in 2019 –
before all the turmoil of the last eight months. The Spring Statement by the Chancellor last week also failed to reverse the 2021 cut in the aid budget.
Without new money, or tapping the Government’s emergency contingency budget, existing reduced funds will be stretched even thinner across the countries that need the UK’S help. Despite this setback, Christian Aid isn’t giving up.
We will continue our development work in Afghanistan and go on campaigning to bring hope to its people. To do that, there are three objectives for this conference and the follow ups.
First, to provide a platform for Afghan civil society. Women’s voices need to be heard so they can have full access to education and take their rightful place in society.
Money alone won’t solve problems with half the population excluded and without the people and local institutions to make society work effectively.
Next, it’s critical to stabilise the economy and ensure the central bank is supported so it can function competently and independently.
That reduces the risk of transferred funds ending up in the pockets of the powerful.
Finally, to make sure multi-year flexible funding – including humanitarian and development aid – is channelled through local Afghan organisations. Creative approaches should be taken to ensure programmes include gender representation and women’s rights. Nobody is pretending that the Taliban rulers are ideal partners for this, especially after stopping girls going to secondary school, but we can’t wish them away.
If we turn our backs, then Afghanistan could slide back down the path of darkness to terrorism and internal strife.
The losers would be people like us. People who share the same hopes and dreams for a better future as we do.
And couples like Qasima and Noruddin who, despite everything, continue to struggle on. Qasima told Christian Aid: “Nothing can rid me of hope for the future of my children.”
THAT IS humbling if we’re tempted to write off Afghanistan as a lost cause. Their human spirit, like the determination of the Ukrainian people in the face of Putin’s ruthless war machine, has reminded us of a truth about our shared humanity: we are incredibly resilient.
War, famine and natural disasters don’t stop societies recovering and thriving. But the one essential condition is for people to have hope. Not the wishful thinking type of hope but an unwavering belief that we can all create practical and sustainable change.
That’s what Christian Aid offers through its programmes and campaigning messages for the donors – they must give hope to Qasima’s family and all Afghan people.
“Women’s voices need to be heard so they can have access to education and take their rightful p lace in ” society