The Afghan Taliban have finally concluded that it was easier to win the war than to run the country. While terrorist groups like IS-K continue to attack Taliban patrols and the Shi’ite minority, the government has no means to provide food to the people during the impending harsh winter. As the Director of the World Food Programme put it, food is running out in Afghanistan leading to starvation that could affect as many as 23 million people. He called on world leaders and billionaires to donate to the country to deal with the grave situation. With the new Taliban-led government in power, many international organizations and funding providers left the country. Amidst the crisis, the banking system has broken down, income opportunities have reduced and food prices increased.
What Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi has said indicates that the situation is having a sobering effect on the Taliban administration. Whether it is temporary or long term remains to be seen. As Muttaqi put it, his government seeks the world’s “mercy and compassion” to help millions of Afghans in desperate need. He urged Washington and other nations to release upward of $10 billion in funds that were frozen when the Taliban took over. He assured that the Taliban government wants good relations with all countries and has no issue with the USA. Muttaqi acknowledged the world’s outrage at the Taliban-imposed limitations on girls’ education and on women as workers. He says Taliban are committed in principle to women participation.
The Taliban themselves are responsible for projecting a fundamentalist image of themselves. They are belatedly and insufficiently distancing themselves from Mullah Omar’s extremist policies. That even now girls schools through Grade 12 are open only in a handful of provinces and women are allowed to work only in medical profession indicates differences persist on the issue within the Taliban that they should have resolved during the last two decades before laying claim to power.
This said, the world must not turn its back on the Afghan people facing hunger and starvation. The USA would be particularly held responsible for any mass deaths in Afghanistan on account of shortage of food. This would further sully the US image in the world, particularly so in the region.
