U.S. Damage to Afghanistan Still Doesn't Stop (Global Hotspot)

Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition

A man begs on the streets of Kabul, Afghanistan, on August 9.

Photo by Sevrahman Safi (Xinhua News Agency)

Last August, U.S. troops withdrew from Afghanistan, leaving a mess. A year later, Afghanistan, which is looking forward to post-war reconstruction, faces multiple challenges such as an intensified humanitarian crisis, a sustained economic depression, and frequent terrorist attacks. Experts on Afghanistan pointed out that the United States has not brought any development to Afghanistan in the past, and what the United States has done out of its own interests has left the Afghan people with a dilemma that is difficult to get out of. Today, not only is the United States not reflecting, it continues to hurt Afghanistan.

Afghanistan:

War ravaged and challenging

Since the withdrawal of U.S. troops, Afghanistan has begun a difficult reconstruction on top of the devastation. However, this war-torn country faces many challenges.

Afghanistan's economic development is hampered by factors such as infrastructure, electricity supply, severe shortages of professionals and a weak economic base. Recently, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a report that about 25 million people in Afghanistan are currently facing poverty, and the country is expected to reduce jobs by 900,000 this year. According to local media reports, the number of beggars on the streets of Kabul is "increasing every day.". Some 3 million Afghan children have been forced to drop out of school to earn money to support their families as a result of poverty.

The humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan is intensifying. According to the UNAMA report, the unprecedented nationwide economic and financial crisis has exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. By 15 June 2022, at least 59% of the population is in need of humanitarian assistance, an increase of 6 million people from the beginning of 2021. In the coming months, about half of Afghanistan's population, or 18.9 million people, face "potentially life-threatening" hunger, and as many as 6 million could face "close to famine," the Washington Post reported on Aug. 2. Russian Satellite Quoting the U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Afghanistan, Arakbarov, as saying that 11 million Afghans need help with health care, 500,000 need help with education, and about 2 million need help in dealing with natural disasters and the consequences of displacement. The situation of children is worrying. UNICEF expects approximately 1.1 million Afghan children under the age of 5 to suffer from severe malnutrition in 2022, and the number of children under 5 years of age admitted to health facilities for severe acute malnutrition soared from 18,000 in March 2021 to 28,000 in March 2022.

The security situation in Afghanistan is not optimistic. During the 20-year war in Afghanistan, the United States selectively counter-terrorism in order to achieve its geopolitical goals has led to the increase in the number of terrorist organizations in Afghanistan from single digits 20 years ago to more than 20 today, which not only hurts the Afghan people, but also endangers the national security of the surrounding countries.

The international aid on which Afghanistan is so dependent is also decreasing. Due to insufficient donations from international aid agencies, emergency assistance to Afghanistan is likely to be significantly reduced by November, reaching only 8 percent of the country's population.

United States:

Irresponsibility exacerbates the dilemma

"The United States should bear three responsibilities for Afghanistan's current predicament." Lan Jianxue, director of the Asia-Pacific Research Institute of the China Academy of International Studies, said in an interview with this newspaper, "The primary responsibility is to help afghanistan restore peace." The 20-year war left behind ruins, turbulent societies and repeatedly banned terrorist organizations. Although since last year, the Afghan people have had the opportunity to take charge of their own destiny, it still appears that challenges remain. This is undoubtedly one of the consequences of the 20-year war. Second, U.S. responsibility for war crimes should be cleared. According to US media statistics, in the past 20 years, NATO troops led by the United States have caused at least 66,000 Afghan military police deaths, 47,000 Afghan civilian deaths, and 11 million Afghan people displaced. Finally, the greatest responsibility of the United States is to help Afghanistan rebuild its country. Through war, the United States has broken the fragile but balanced power structure that once existed in Afghanistan, but only 'broken', not 'standing'. ”

However, instead of reflecting on its responsibilities, the United States has intensified its efforts. According to an executive order signed by U.S. President Joe Biden in February, half of afghanistan's central bank reserves, which are currently frozen in the U.S., will be used to resolve the humanitarian and economic crisis in Afghanistan, while the other half will remain in the U.S. to provide compensation to the families of victims of terrorist acts, including the 9/11 terrorist attacks. As the Washington Post article points out, the US freezing of the assets of the Afghan central bank and other actions has led to the collapse of the Afghan economy, the collapse of the banking system, and soaring food prices, further exacerbating the suffering of the Afghan people.

"Afghanistan is currently facing a systemic crisis for which the United States is responsible. Politically, the Afghan people are not prepared for regime change, and the irresponsible withdrawal of U.S. troops has exacerbated the chaos and, to some extent, caused the diplomatic crisis currently facing the Afghan government; Economically, Afghanistan lacks 'hematopoietic' capabilities, which is the result of the 20-year war and the systemic damage caused by the U.S. freezing of Afghan assets abroad; security, the U.S. counterterrorism strategy over the past 20 years has included conniving and even cultivating extremist forces to serve it, which has led to terrorist forces still active in Afghanistan. Moreover, the U.S. withdrawal itself has exacerbated the humanitarian catastrophe, and over the past year, the more than $900 million in U.S. aid claimed to have been provided to Afghanistan has actually been mostly circled within the United States and has not reached the Afghan people at all. Zhu Yongbiao, director of the Afghanistan Research Center at Lanzhou University, said in an interview with this newspaper, "What's more, the Biden administration has frozen Afghanistan's overseas assets and plundered the afghans' life-saving money, and even the families of the victims of the '9/11' terrorist attacks have publicly urged the Biden government to return the money to the Afghans." ”

After the withdrawal of the United States, the attention of the United States and the West to Afghanistan has been declining, and Afghanistan is becoming an "outcast" of the West. The French "Viewpoint" weekly website commented on August 4 that the United States and Western countries have taken their eyes away from Afghanistan. They no longer want to have anything to do with a country that has allowed them to invest so much in 20 years. It is this approach by the United States and the West that has led to "the collapse of the Afghan economy, the collapse of the banking system, the depletion of foreign investment, and a significant reduction in financial assistance from the international community."

The international community:

Call for the lifting of the ban to help rebuild

"In June this year, the worst earthquake in 20 years occurred in Afghanistan, which aggravated the humanitarian disaster in Afghanistan and further highlighted the sequelae of the United States' 'chaos and abandonment' against Afghanistan. However, due to the comprehensive sanctions imposed by the United States and the West on Atta and the Argentine banking system, it is difficult for foreign aid to flow in. Against this backdrop, the Biden administration not only does not consider returning $7 billion of Afghan overseas funds, but its tendency to take it for itself is becoming more and more apparent. This is a blatant plunder of the assets of the Afghan people. At present, the international community is calling for the closure to be lifted and the money returned to Afghanistan. Lan Jianxue said.

On August 10, 71 international economists and experts sent a joint letter to the U.S. government calling for the return of assets from Afghanistan's central bank. They said in the letter that the $7 billion belonged entirely to the Afghan people, that the U.S. government's decision to split it in two was arbitrary and unjustified, and that any failure to return the assets in full would undermine the Afghan economic recovery process. The letter was signed by Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz and Former Minister of Finance of Greece, Janis Varoufakis. The letter has been sent to Biden and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. In April this year, dozens of UN independent experts on human rights also jointly spoke out, pointing out that the sanctions imposed by the United States and the West in the name of safeguarding human rights are actually killing people and depriving them of basic human rights, including the right to health, food and life", the Freezing of Afghan overseas assets endangers the survival of Afghan women and children, and the United States should unconditionally return Afghan overseas assets as soon as possible.

In addition, in support of humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan, the United Nations has co-organized high-level pledges with the United Kingdom, Germany and Qatar. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said the target for raising donations for Afghanistan this year is $4.4 billion. Guterres stressed that stopping the "fatal downward spiral" of the Afghan economy is the first step in any meaningful humanitarian response that would otherwise fail to truly help the Afghan people.

In addition, "for more than a year, neighboring countries, including China, have been playing a constructive role in Afghanistan, exploring cooperative and inclusive paths to peace and reconciliation and national reconstruction." Zhu Yongbiao said, "However, the mediation and assistance of neighboring countries on the Afghan issue have from time to time faced obstruction by the United States by means of sanctions and even naked destruction." Although the United States has significantly reduced its investment in Afghanistan, it still wants to maintain the greatest influence on the Afghan issue and the surrounding area at the least cost. It is therefore important to consider the pernicious influence of the United States as a potential disruptor and spoiler and to guard against possible United States attacks and all kinds of destruction in the process of further aiding reconciliation and reconstruction of Afghanistan. ”

Reporter Zhang Hong