As the conflict intensifies, the drought exacerbates the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan Reuters

Canupria Kapoor

SINGAPORE (Reuters)-Millions of Afghans are working hard to put food on the table, because as the U.S.-led foreign army completes the withdrawal, a prolonged drought has destroyed supplies in this troubled country due to a surge in violence .

Aid organizations are calling on donors to provide emergency funds and humanitarian assistance. Due to the depletion of water supplies, the annual wheat harvest is expected to drop by nearly half, and millions of livestock are at risk of death.

“This is a multiple shock,” said Necephor Mghendi, head of the International Federation of Afghan Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

“In general, the supply and distribution of food have been affected… Conflict is causing internal displacement, which means that there is an increase in demand for resources in certain areas.”

President Ashraf Ghani stated in late June that the entire country is facing a moderate to severe drought. He admitted that the national disaster management budget is not sufficient to cover what experts say is one of the worst droughts in decades in the geographic area.

“We… will not let this country face a famine,” Ghani said in a statement. “Our efforts are aimed at all regions, even those under the control of the Taliban.”

As foreign troops left after 20 years of conflict and swept many rural areas across the country, Islamic insurgents stepped up their campaign to defeat the US-backed government of Ghani.

With few irrigation functions, Afghanistan relies on the snow on the mountains to keep the rivers flowing in summer and irrigation of the fields. The snowfall in last winter was once again very low.

Fahad Said, a climate scientist at Climate Analysis, said the La Niña phenomenon and weakened jets have caused the Earth’s weather system to move more slowly, which may be the cause of the extreme dry weather in Afghanistan.

Although it is difficult to associate individual events with climate change, scientists agree that global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions is causing extreme weather around the world.

“Afghanistan is a good example of climate injustice. It has always played no role in the chaos of climate change, but they bear the brunt,” Said said.

Afghanistan is one of the 23 countries identified as a “Hunger Hotspot” by the United Nations in a report last month. It is estimated that at least 12 million of the 36 million people are facing a food security crisis, and they don’t know the next meal. When and where will the meal be held. From.

Mghendi said that IFRC is trying to raise $16.5 million, but only raised less than half of it.

“This is a terrible humanitarian situation and requires as much support as possible to get the most basic things,” Mghendi said.

“Every dollar helps someone.”