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Afghanistan- A Million May
Die Even If No Bombs Fall

Afghanistan: 1 Million may die even if no bombs fall
by Terry J. Allen,
In These Times (pre-publication draft)

Even if no bombs are dropped on Afghanistan and no
bullets fired at Osama bin Laden or the Taliban, 1 million
Afghans may die in what United Nations agencies warn
will be a humanitarian crisis of "stunning proportions."

Afghanistan, already shredded by such man_made
disasters as decades of war and years of Taliban rule, is
suffering a major natural disaster in the form of severe
drought and famine. Some 3.8 million Afghans were already
dependent on food aid from the international agencies that
withdrew after the September 11 attacks. Without new
shipments, 320,000 Afghans will run out of food within a
week; by December 1.6 million will exhaust their food
supply, said UN World Food Program spokesman Khaled
Adly.

When the harsh winter descends, 7.5 million very poor
Afghans will face starvation and lethal cold, according to
the United Nations Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Assistance. The most vulnerable will die as
surely as if they had been ripped apart by bombs.

It is no wonder that Afghans are fleeing in droves
toward neighboring countries. Most will be turned back
at the border and join millions of internally displaced
persons, many condemned to squalid, overcrowded
refugee camps.

Afghanistan's neighbors acted quickly to seal borders.
They feared an overwhelming human flow that would
flood already strained economies and contribute to
political unrest. Since 1979, the 3_4 million Afghans in
Pakistan, Iran, and other nations have constituted the
largest single refugee group in the world.

The US was no more eager than Pakistan to see a new
wave of refugees. One of the 18 demands that the
Washington reportedly made on Pakistan, was to seal its
border with Afghanistan to prevent bin Laden militants
from escaping. The US also demanded a halt to fuel
exports on which Afghanistan relies for military and
civilian transportation and, in much of the severely
deforested nation, for heat.

Afghans trapped in miserable border refugee camps,
which aid agencies are attempting to supply, may be the
lucky ones. Afghanistan reportedly has the world's
highest infant, child and maternal mortality rates, the
lowest literacy rate and life expectancy, and one of the
two or three lowest levels of per capita food availability
in the world. The UN puts life expectancy at 43.

The current drought and famine are so bad that "Some
people, especially in the central parts of Afghanistan,
have reportedly eaten poisonous grass that caused
paralysis and many in the northern provinces have been
eating meals of locusts mixed with animal fodder,"
reported the UN World Food Program.

"In today's Afghanistan," with its drought, wars, ruined
infrastructure, and bad governance, wrote Afghan_
American author Tamim Ansary, "only the Taliban eat,"
Last July, Taliban leader Mulla Mohammed Omar called
the drought God's punishment for the people's
discontent with Taliban rule, and neglect of their
religious duties.

While the US has not blamed the Afghan people for the
plague of Taliban rule, the effect of Washington's
actions may be to sentence one million of them to death
for the polices of their leaders.

---------------
NOTE FROM TERRY:
People wanting to help a group supporting humanitarian
relief and opposing Taliban offenses might consider sending
a (tax-deductible) donation to the Revolutionary Association
of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA)
The Afghan Women's Mission
260 S. Lake Avenue, PMB 165
Pasadena, CA 91101
You can read more about their work at www.rawa.org <http://www.rawa.org/

-------------
terry j allen
44 old brooklyn rd
richmond, vt 05477
802.434.3767
tallen@igc.org
www.terryjallen.com <http://www.terryjallen.com/