The Rising Hunger in Afghanistan
40 years of wars have left most Afghans poor. First the Soviet Union attacked Afghanistan then came the United States. Today more than 50% of the population lives below the poverty line. 97% of the Afghan population is predicted to be plunged into poverty by next year. Afghans mostly live on bread and tea. But sometimes even bread is not available. Many Afghans do not have jobs. Those who do have not been paid well before the Taliban took over. Feride Sahzade, a widow, has a job. She is a cook at a school but her salary is not enough for living. “I live in Kabul. I have six children. I am waiting in front of the bakery to find bread... I am a cook at a school. My salary is not enough to cover the rent of my house and the expenses of my children. I am waiting for bread here because I have to,” she said. The poor Afghans are lining up outside of the bakeries for bread donations. They are waiting for hours in the extremely cold weather. This is happening in the country's capital Kabul. Here is an Afghan woman Mava Niyazi, “We are not beggars. We are unemployed. Everyone waiting here has economic problems.” Here is another woman, Sekiba Sukur, who has been waiting outside this bakery for bread in the cold for more than 3 hours. “My husband is disabled, I take care of a household of 11 people. We live in a tent," Here is Matinullah Safiyi. He is a generous Bakery owner, “We give these people around 50-60 loaves of bread a day. They sit in front of the bakery for hours in this cold weather. Their financial situation is very bad. It is like that every day. This scene reflects the situation in Afghanistan. It wasn’t like this before.” The 40 year long war has ended. But a new war is making things worse. The US froze $9.5 billion in Afghan assets. Then the world bank and IMF did the same thing. Those hurting the most are salaried people working for the former American supported government. The UN forecasts that around 22.8 million people or over half of Afghanistan's population will face severe food problems. This is when the world is closing its borders and eyes from Afghanistan.
