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Afghans facing 'hell on earth' - 29th November 2021

As winter looms, Afghanis will be forced to confront "hell on earth", predicts David Beasley, executive director of the World Food Programme .

Already, acute food insecurity is a reality for 22.8 million people, which is in excess of half the population, while some 3.2 million children are coming up against malnutrition.

A perfect storm of the worst drought for 27 years coupled with the afghani (the national currency) falling to all-time lows against the US dollar, has meant spiralling prices for food and essentials. Since the end of June, wheat flour and fuel prices have soared 31 percent and 27 percent respectively.

David Beasley's analysis of the situation is alarming, "it is as bad as you possibly can imagine," he stated, "in fact, we're now looking at the worst humanitarian crisis on Earth. 95 percent of the people don't have enough food, and now we're looking at 23 million people marching towards starvation," he concluded. "The next six months are going to be catastrophic. It is going to be hell on Earth."

Prior to the collapse of President Ashraf Ghani's government, it had been expected that Afghanistan would be able to deal with a harsh winter, given the help of the international community. Nevertheless, with the Taliban seizing power in August, this optimism has vanished.

All western aid has now been axed, as countries are hesitant to back the Taliban rule that excludes girls from receiving education and proposes the reintroduction of the full range of Sharia punishments.

This desperate situation has led Beasley to issue a plea: "To the world leaders, to the billionaires: imagine that this was your little girl or your little boy, or your grandchild about to starve to death. You would do everything you possibly could, and when there's $400 trillion worth of wealth on the earth today, shame on us. We let any child die from hunger. Shame on us. I don't care where that child is."