Food shortage, with winter lurking, deepens challenges for Taliban.
Rain, resources scarce with winter approaching
KABUL, Afghanistan – The U.N.'s stockpiles of food in Afghanistan could run out this month, a senior official warned Wednesday, threatening to add a hunger crisis to the challenges facing the country's new Taliban rulers as they endeavor to restore stability after decades of war.
About one third of the country's population of 38 million doesn't know if they will have a meal every day, according to Ramiz Alakbarov, the U.N.'s humanitarian chief in Afghanistan.
The U.N.'s World Food Program has brought in food and distributed it to tens of thousands of people in recent weeks, but with winter approaching and a drought ongoing, at least $200 million is needed urgently to be able to continue to feed the most vulnerable Afghans, Alakbarov said.
“By the end of September, the stocks which the World Food Program has in the country will be out,” he said. “We will not be able to provide those essential food items because we'll be out of stocks.”
Earlier, U.N. officials said that of the $1.3 billion needed for overall aid efforts, only 39% has been received.
The Taliban, who seized control of the country ahead of the withdrawal of American forces this week, now must govern a nation that relies heavily on international aid and is in the midst of a worsening economic crisis. In addition to the concerns about food supplies, civil servants haven't been paid in months and the local currency is losing value.
Most of Afghanistan's foreign reserves are held abroad and currently frozen.
Mohammad Sharif, a shopkeeper in the capital of Kabul, said that shops and markets there have supplies, but a major concern is rising food prices.
“If the situation continues like this and there is no government to control the prices, that will cause so many problems for local people,” he said.
After the U.S. pullout, many Afghans are anxiously waiting to see how the Taliban will rule. When they were last in power, before being driven out by the U.S.-led invasion in 2001, they imposed draconian restrictions, refusing to allow girls to go to school, largely confining women to their homes and banning television, music and photography.
But more recently, their leaders have sought to project a more moderate image. Schools have reopened to boys and girls, though Taliban officials have said they will study separately. Women are
out on the streets wearing Islamic headscarves, as they always have, rather than the all-encompassing burqa the Taliban required in the past.
The challenges the Taliban face in reviving the economy could give Western nations leverage as they push the group to fulfill a pledge to form an inclusive government and guarantee women's rights. The Taliban say they want to have good relations with other countries, including the U.S.
Many Afghans fear the Taliban won't make good on those pledges and also are concerned that the nation's economic situation holds little opportunity.
Thousands who had worked with the U.S. and its allies, as well as up to 200 Americans, remained in the country after the efforts ended with the last U.S. troops flying out of Kabul's international airport just before midnight Monday.