Afghanistan, a Victim of Depraved Indifference or Deliberate Genocide?

Jan. 17, 2022 (EIRNS)—Whatever horrible images people remember from the hectic pullout of American forces last August, a much more horrible reality has come into focus—that retribution would be exacted upon the Afghan population, regardless of any political leanings. Beyond the miscalculation of Western intelligence agencies regarding the degree of support for the propped-up government, there is the current calculation of deaths from the cold, from disease and from starvation.

The reality is that, at a minimum, 55% of the population is at “extreme levels of hunger,” according to the latest UN estimate. And of these 23 million people, around 9 million are at immediate risk of famine. The depraved indifference that has allowed matters to come to this point competes with the deliberate depravity of withholding Afghanistan’s $9 billion in reserve assets, adding up to genocide—deaths unmatched in years of bombing.

Presently, displaced Afghans in camps in the northern region are reduced to selling not only their children, but also their kidneys to survive. According to TOLOnews, one gets $950-1,425 per child, and $1,425-1,900 per kidney. The head of Action Against Hunger’s Afghanistan section, Mike Bonke, reported on NPR that they witness people losing body weight and “a sense of listlessness” from the lack of calories. Speaking from his office in Kabul, he said, “We actually go to the people in villages and check on their health status. And we see people in these villages who have been, you know, skipping over meals. We find cases of severe malnourishment, you know, underfed children that are—really are starving. And that’s horrifying.”

Belatedly, Western governments have begun scrambling to put together piecemeal efforts, with the primary aim of avoiding the Taliban government. Bonke made it clear that the problem now is simply too big not to engage with the Kabul administration. Modest increases of aid aren’t close to being enough. This is echoed by the research director of the End Afghanistan Starvation group, Fanny Dellinger, who is in touch with a number of NGOs. She describes some UNICEF funding for community health clinics, whose funding had been cut off by the World Bank; but the question of funding for public hospitals has not been addressed, because this involves dealing with the government and lifting the sanctions.

Pakistan’s involvement with the Taliban government, according to TOLOnews, includes the sending skilled professionals, including medical, IT, financing and accounting personnel. There are unconfirmed reports that the Taliban has begun paying civil servants a part of their salary (around 30-50%). The German and Dutch governments are working on a scheme to pay some salaries of teachers, administered through UNICEF rather than the government—but with the Taliban’s agreement to allow girls to attend school through the 12th grade. (Since the government has already announced such a program, to begin in March, it appears the Western “condition” has more to do with propaganda than anything else.)

Finally, what passes for aid, up to now, appears to be the pulling out of Afghanistan the very talent needed to rebuild the country—a pretty good measure of the lack of any intent for any such rebuilding. The director of a technical school in Kabul reported to EIR on the huge brain drain over the recent few months, where almost none of his graduates remains in the country. A senior official of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan Wahidullah Hashimi claims: “Foreigners intentionally evacuated Afghans, most importantly, the educated and professional ones, to weaken the Islamic Emirate and undermine our administration. We are in touch with some Afghans in different parts of the world and are encouraging them to return to Afghanistan because we desperately need their help and expertise to help their people and government.”