23 Million Afghans Facing Malnutrition This Winter, Thanks to Joe Biden
$220million-per-month may be required
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Half of Afghanistan's population is now facing crippling food shortages just months after Joe Biden's disastrous withdrawal of troops from the country.
23 million Afghans are now facing malnutrition between November and March next year as supplies run out, the UN's World Food Programme has warned
$220 million per month may be required to keep the country from falling into famine after the Taliban takeover.
World leaders are also hesitant to hand over cash amid fears it would legitimize a government that includes wanted terrorists.
Executive director of the World Food Programme, David Beasley, said Afghanistan "is now among the world’s worst humanitarian crises - if not the worst" as he sounded the alarm on Monday.
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"Food security has all but collapsed," he added.
"This winter, millions of Afghans will be forced to choose between emigration and starvation unless we can step up our life-saving assistance and unless the economy can be resuscitated."
"We are on a countdown to catastrophe, and if we don’t act now, we will have a total disaster on our hands."
Afghanistan is dependant on donations to support itself, and some 40 percent of its GDP came from overseas aid.
As The Daily Mail reported:
That has all but dried up since the Islamists swept to power following America's decision to withdraw troops this summer, sparking the near-overnight collapse of a government it spent 20 years funding.
Corruption was common under the US-supported government, with funds meant to help Afghans diverted into the pockets of contractors, officials, and warlords.
Part of the Taliban's appeal to ordinary Afghans when the group re-took control was a pledge to end such abuses.
But few believe the new administration will be any different, only this time, the money may be diverted to fund terrorism rather than to line people's pockets.
Alex Zerden, a former Treasury Department official and fellow at the Center for a New American Security, warned CNBC last month that the potential for corruption within Taliban ranks is 'huge.'
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A quarter of Afghanistan's banks are state-owned, he said, along with the national bank, which would typically be used to move large volumes of cash around.
"The Taliban control customs, they control taxation," he said.
"They were in the extortion business a month ago [and] I don’t think they’re going to change."
Andreas Krieg warned the humanitarian funds will inevitably "get into the wrong hands."
World leaders raised some $1billion in UN funding for aid efforts in Afghanistan last month, but need to work out how to get it into the country while bypassing the Taliban.
