Link to article: https://eurasianet.org/afghanistan-grappling-with-fall-out-of-dwindling-foreign-aid
Afghanistan has been struggling with a humanitarian crisis after the cutoff of foreign aid. The United States, starting after an executive order signed by Trump in January, has revoked all assistance with humanitarian needs for the country. Afghanistan has gotten the majority of their resources from foreign bodies, including goods like food, fuel, medicine, etc. The promised $1.8 billion dollars from the United States will now not be given to Afghanistan, and the country is severely struggling to keep their sovereignty afloat. The struggle is causing Afghan citizens to flee to neighboring countries, which is causing a refugee crisis in the surrounding area.
I think the cutoff of aid to Afghanistan could be detrimental to their population. With almost all of their resources coming from other powers, it will be extremely difficult to provide food, fuel, and healthcare to their people, especially without the money that was promised by the US. One of the biggest problems, in my opinion, that this will cause is the setbacks this will cause for the women’s rights movement in Afghanistan. All of the programs, funded by international aid, will be forced to diminish, and this will cause the women’s rights crisis to almost completely lose progress.
It is likely that the Taliban, with governmental control of Afghanistan, will continue to demand aid from foreign entities who have removed their stakes in the country. The Taliban is unlikely to be willing to accept any reforms, especially in relation to women’s rights or political freedom. The poverty rates in Afghanistan can be expected to rise dramatically, and the fleeing of citizens from the country will continue. The response from western entities will stay firm, with no direct funding being sent to the government, as it is run by the Taliban.
This relates to human rights, which we’ve been learning in class. Afghanistan has a score of 6/100 on the global freedom scale, which makes it one of the least free countries in the world. This is because the government is currently being run by the Taliban, a jihadist terrorist organization that has ties to the government. Afghanistan, as mentioned in the rest of my report, is facing a severe humanitarian crisis, and it expresses very little compliance towards human rights and international law. Unfortunately, it will likely only get worse from here, as it will no longer have its western aid to maintain its humanitarian safety.