Afghanistan’s Humanitarian Crisis

Written by Amina Michaud

The United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan was a messy and drawn-out endeavor, with the last of American troops finally packing up and leaving on August 30th, 2021. This has since become a very controversial topic, and you’d be hard-pressed to find someone without a strong opinion on it. While some are understanding of the US’s ‘honorable’ battle against the Taliban, many have taken one long look at the US’s actions over the past two decades and are quick to criticize them for their involvement in the first place. After seeing the statistics, it’s not hard to see why you might take such a stance. The US spent a total of 2.313 trillion dollars (too much!) since it began its involvement in Afghanistan in 2001; the cost of human life was equally brutal. Over 2 460 American servicemen were killed during this two-decade long “Operation Enduring Freedom” and the numbers are even more staggering for their opposition. The war directly killed 176 000 Afghan people, 46 319 of which were civilians. This is of course not accounting for deaths caused by ‘disease, loss of access to food, water, infrastructure, and/or other indirect consequences of the war’ according to the Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs at Brown University. This would all be bad enough if we stopped there but lest we forget the major crimes committed by the US during its séjour in Afghanistan - a war crime and a crime against humanity. Altogether a solid argument could be made in favor of their withdrawal.

Unfortunately, life isn’t that easy and the US’s departure left Afghanistan to deal with the result of a two decade long war in an already politically unstable environment. As the Taliban seized control of the government, the country plunged into chaos. Their fragile economy began crumbling rapidly causing violent surges in inflation and unemployment rates while many of their citizens fled the country entirely. The state of things was made worse by extreme sanctions placed by the US and almost all foreign aid ceasing. No one wants to supply the Taliban with support as they make empty promises to the public about keeping up women’s rights while on the homefront they’re beating young Afghan girls who have resorted to attending secret schools in search of an education. While I completely understand the decision many nations have taken in not recognizing or supporting the Taliban as a government (I rarely see beating little girls in anything but a negative light), I firmly believe that we should not let the Afghan population fend for themselves. They have been victims of atrocious crimes and survivors of arduous circumstances: they do not deserve to suffer what has now culminated to be a devastating humanitarian crisis.

I am so used to learning about atrocities committed in the past. Slavery, colonization; wars, massacres: all in the past. That must be why it’s so hard to come to terms with what’s going on in this very day and age. That must be why I can’t seem to wrap my mind around the fact that in December of 2021 an estimated 95% of Afghanistan’s population had insufficient food consumption according to the UN World Food Program. 22 million people, well over half the Afghan population, don't know when their next meal is going to be and are facing “crisis-levels of hunger”. And since this is an increase from the 14 million in September, we can expect this number to go nowhere but up.

Recognizing the Taliban as Afghanistan’s government should not be taken lightly, their crimes are revolting and must never be forgotten, but what choice do nations have when a country full of people is at stake? Slowly, reluctantly, governments have already begun taking action to resolve the ruinous state of the country, recommitting to aid that will provide shelter, healthcare, food, water and other basic necessities. Taliban representatives have also been in meetings with the WHO over the past week discussing the crisis at hand, and plan to meet with the Red Cross as well as the Médecin Sans Frontiers over the next few days. While this is a tentative first step, US sanctions remain as crushing as ever, fueling this humanitarian crisis, and we are unlikely to see much progress until compromises are reached. We need to be taking as much action as possible to help these people but it's hard to feel like any good is being achieved in such a precarious situation. A bad government but an even worse crisis. There is no right choice.