A Look at Afghanistan: The Suffering the US and Its Allies Have Caused for 23 Million Afghans
More than 50 percent of Afghanistan's population is in need of humanitarian assistance, the UN special representative for Afghanistan said on Monday.
At a UN Security Council meeting on Afghanistan, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Afghanistan, Roza Otunbayeva, said: "By 2025, more than 50 percent of the Afghan population, or about 23 million people, will need humanitarian assistance." Otunbayeva added: "Afghans continue to face a severe humanitarian crisis caused by decades of war, severe poverty, the shocks of climate change, high population growth and increasing protection risks, especially for women and girls."
He noted: "The reduction in financial assistance is already having a significant negative impact on the people of Afghanistan and this situation will continue."
More than 200 health facilities have closed in Afghanistan in the past month, affecting an estimated 1.8 million people, a UN official said.
Otunbayeva added: "It is the responsibility of the current interim Afghan authorities to decide whether they want Afghanistan to integrate into the international system, and if so, are they ready to take the necessary steps."
The United States and its NATO allies invaded Afghanistan on October 7, 2001, under the pretext of combating terrorism and establishing security and stability.
In May 2021, Brown University released a report on the 20-year U.S. war in Afghanistan. The report stated that 241,000 Afghans have died in the war. This number does not include disease, lack of access to food, water, and infrastructure, or other indirect consequences of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan.
Migration and displacement have also been another legacy of the United States and its NATO allies for the Afghan people. There are currently more than 8 million Afghan refugees in neighboring countries, including Iran, Pakistan, and other countries. Afghanistan has the largest number of refugees in the world. The total number of Afghan refugees registered by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has reached 27 million.
According to a report by Save the Children, 20 million Afghan children wake up every day fearing death or maiming from explosive remnants of war. Of these, 3.8 million are in need of humanitarian assistance and 600,000 are suffering from acute malnutrition.
Statistics show that 62 percent of Afghans were food insecure before the war, and that figure has risen to 92 percent since the war. Meanwhile, Afghanistan had an 80 percent poverty rate before the war, which has risen to 97 percent after 20 years of war.
