Sanctions v Situation: Afghanistan Struggles as the World Stands By
When the Taliban seized control of Kabul on 15th August 2021, they effectively took control of Afghanistan. International governments placed heavy sanctions on Afghanistan, as they refused to recognise the Taliban as a legitimate government due to their continued breaches of fundamental human rights.
Since then the country has spiraled into an economic crisis, sending millions of citizens into a life of starvation, struggle and disease. In an interview with the BBC, Fatima - a midwife - stated that "Sanctions on the Taliban will kill us faster than the violation of our rights by the Taliban. A girl dies from hunger and a mother either sells her daughter because of hunger or from pressure to marry her by force. The issue of their education and literacy are meaningless when you are dying from hunger."
Afghanistan is in a state of dire economic crisis affecting not just the lives, but the survival of Afghan citizens. As Fatima states, the real problem is much more immediate, people are starving and economic sanctions - although motivated by basic and fundamental human rights such as education and equality, are making the situation for civilians worse.
According to the World Food Programme, as of October 2021, half of Afghanistan’s population face acute hunger. The combined impact of drought, conflict, COVID-19 and the economic crisis have affected people's basic needs such as access to food. This has huge implications for the provision of healthcare for civilians. Save the Children have stated that during this winter 14 million out of a total of 40 million children are expected to face life-threatening levels of hunger as rates of malnutrition rise.
Photo by BULENT KILIC/AFP via Getty Images
The humanitarian crisis is having a detrimental effect on the provision of healthcare for the people of Afghanistan. Prior to the Taliban takeover in August 2021, durkin the US-backed Government. Afghanistan heavily relied on foreign aid to support its healthcare system. Rescue.org stated that 75% of the country's public spending was sourced from foreign funds. This aid has been withdrawn as part of the sanctions imposed on the Taliban government. Rescure.org also estimated that over 90% of the country's health clinics are expected to close down. As of 15th February, the World Health Organisation released a report which stated the situation was an ‘unprecedented humanitarian crisis’.
The Ministry of Health for Afghanistan, run by the Taliban, have stated that the Sehatmandi Project aims to ‘expand the scope, quality, and coverage of quality and coverage of health services provided to the population, particularly to the poor, in the project areas, and to enhance the stewardship functions of the ministry of public health (MOPH).’ This project has received funding from the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (UN CERF), the World Bank, and the World Health Organisation, but it still lacks significant funding.
The World Health Organisation, as per their report from the 15th February 2022, states that the second wave of the Sehatmandi Project will be implemented from February 2022 to June 2022, but also stated that: ‘The major issue is funding for sustaining health services delivery’. Thus, the key issue is delivering public health programmes that provide longevity, and stability to the citizens of Afghanistan. Again, this cannot be done without adequate funding.
As of Friday 11th February 2022, Joe Biden signed an executive order which released part of the $7bn of Afghan money stored in the Federal Reserve. Bloomberg reported that Biden proposed to direct $3.5 billion into a trust fund for humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan but to set aside the other $3.5 billion aside for the families of the victims of the 9/11 attacks.
This money, however, is not the money that belongs to the United States, it is the Afghan Central Bank funds held in the Federal Reserve and could prove a crucial life line in stabilizing this economy on the brink of collapse. The renowned reporter John Simpson stated that ‘I have been reporting on Afghanistan for over forty years but I don’t think I’ve ever felt before that I might be watching the destruction of a nation’.
In closing I return to Fatima, who said that ‘Sanctions on the Taliban will kill us faster than the violation of our rights by the Taliban.’ It is well acknowledged by international governments, NGOs, and the general public that the Taliban regime is one of repression and violation of fundamental human rights. However, the economic crisis, in part created by sanctions placed on Afghanistan by international governments, is fueling the destruction of the country.
As put by John Simpson, ‘these people have been through so much in the past decades, and they simply don’t deserve it.’ The people of Afghanistan cannot rebuild their lives while starving, facing disease and fighting a global pandemic. International governments are recklessly placing sanctions on Afghanistan with little regard to the civilian population. Lifting sanctions does not mean endorsing Taliban ideology, it means supporting the people of Afghanistan’s survival on a basic humanitarian level.