Gordon Brown, today warning that the West has’sleepedwalking into the greatest humanitarian crisis of all time’ after the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
As he warned that the country was ‘on the edge of social and economic collapse,’ the former prime minister challenged the international community to agree to the largest humanitarian response to a single country.
Brown claimed that over half the Afghan population faces extreme hunger. He also said that a quarter of a billion children are in danger of starving.
He cited UN and International Monetary Fund forecasts that Afghanistan’s economy would contract 20-30% over the following year, a number he called ‘unprecedented.
On Times Red Box, Brown stated that “no country has ever suffered from universal poverty” in the same way as Afghanistan.
It is ironic, that nearly every Afghan citizen will face the same fate when almost everyone in Afghanistan is condemned by the international community to the Sustainable Development Goals.
“Instead, there will be absolute poverty in every country. We’ll have absolute poverty throughout the entire world.”
Gordon Brown warned that Britain is at the brink, and called for the world to support the most comprehensive humanitarian response to a crisis.
Yesterday, Afghan women gathered to protest the Taliban regime and demand better living conditions.
Yesterday’s demonstration saw women holding banners that read ‘we’re the voice for hungry people’ as well as ‘consciences’.
Brown claimed that Afghanistan’s poverty crisis would have devastating effects on Europe. Thousands of Afghans will be faced with the dilemma of either starvation, or emigration.
The August withdrawal was also described as a pause by the West, which he warned would encourage ‘the exploit of grievances’ and anti-western anger that could come back to haunt them.
In order to most immediately address the crisis, Mr Brown called on global support for a 4.5 billion dollar (£3.3 billion) plan from the UN Office for Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which would provide assistance to 22 million of the most vulnerable Afghans.
Brown claimed that America spent trillions of dollars to defeat the Afghan war. We have the resources to provide 4 billion dollars for starvation prevention in this unstable peace.
“The tragedy that was foretold can’t be left unsolved.”
Saliha, a woman holding her baby Najeeb (4 months) as he is treated at the Indira Gandhi Children’s Hospital in Kabul.
A blanket is placed over a Afghan woman as her family camps outside of the Directorate of Disasters in Herat.
An Afghan family sits next to an open fire at the Directorate of Disasters in Herat. It is third biggest city.
A man from Afghanistan collects pieces of aluminum and other plastic in Herat in early this year. It is another proof of the country’s economic and social decline
Taliban torture Afghan translator for supporting SAS troops
Daily Mail by Mark Nicol and David Williams
The Taliban have taken a former translator for the UK Special Forces and made him suffer torture by them in Afghanistan. Wahid was left in Afghanistan after the RAF evacuated. He is currently in danger of his life.
Afghan 34-year-old said he believed that he would die after fighters questioned him. They searched his cell phone for emails asking for relocation to Britain, documents proving he had served for British military and regular contact with British colleagues.
Wahid (34), a former interpreter, displays the scars from where he was tortured by the Taliban for his work with the UK forces
Wahid, who was able to escape previous Taliban attacks, said: “They already knew intelligence that I assisted their enemy. At one point, they bound me and put me in a hood. Then they began beating me with their questions.
“When the men didn’t get the answers that they desired, they used an electric stick on me to shock me and put a stun gun in my neck to make it painful. It was horrendous.
Ex-interpreter who was hiding from the Operation Pitting rescue flight ended in August believes that he was only released because he alerted his wife. She had also gone to the tribal elders as well as the governor of the district to ask for him to be released.
A series of shocking accounts have been published from Afghanistan since the Taliban’s takeover, revealing the scale of Afghanistan’s current food crisis.
A 40-year old mother had to give up one of her twins in order to buy food for her family.
The couple had to move from their farm due to drought. They moved into nearby cities where her husband, and the second-eldest son, worked as laborers until the Taliban took over in August.
Save the Children discovered the family’s dire situation and sent workers to distribute food.
The Afghan mother from Jawzjan explained to charity workers that her twins, a boy- and girl-year-old, were born shortly after they left their home due to drought.
As she sat down in the room, which was bare and carpeted with rugs from a nearby mosque, the woman explained that the clothing for all children is secondhand.
Although she had originally planned to have both of her children, she was unable to find enough food to feed them all. Usually, it was bread and milk powder.
She is 45 and works as a labourer. But her husband says only one job in five is available. And the wages for the day are just $1.
According to his mother, her second-eldest son works at the market nearby, pushing carts for stall owners who need produce.
Because he is so young, his owners may prefer him to have stronger children.
A woman who saw the newborns crying from hunger told how a married couple offered her $104 for her baby.
At first she was reluctant, but she eventually agreed after watching the boy crying and having nothing to eat for several days. She decided to let him go to make sure she could provide for herself and her children.
“It was hard. It was more difficult than you could imagine. Destitution forced me to give my baby away. “I was too poor to provide for my son and could not afford any other expenses.”
Workers learned about a second case, in which another twin mother was pressured to kill one by her family because she was malnourished. But she didn’t give up on her daughter.
Both the 18-month old twins of this woman are sick and weak. The weather is getting colder, and her little children are suffering severe malnutrition. She explained that she cannot afford to take care of them as one parent.
In the hopes of buying enough food for her family’s six more months, a mother aged 40 was forced to give one of her infant twins away to her childless husband earlier in the month. The woman is holding the baby girl.
The mother said her family were forced off their farm in Afghanistan’s Jawzjan province earlier this year by drought, and the collapse of the economy has made it impossible to find work
My son and daughter were both hungry last night. There is nothing at my home. “We have no food or flour in our house, so we don’t have anything,” she stated.
“My husband does not send money to us. (He says) ‘let her die’. Everybody was saying to me that they would buy her, but I refused to give up on her.
Save the Children projects that there will be 3.2million Afghan children suffering from acute malnutrition in the coming winter.
Near their home, the woman’s 45-year-old husband holds another one of their children in his hand. They are wearing clothing donated by others.