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Gusts of wind stirred up dust as Ghulam Mohiddin and his wife, Nazo, made their way to the graveyard, the final resting place of all their children.
They showed us the graves of the three sons they had lost in the past two years: Rahmat, aged one; Koatan, seven months; and most recently, three-month-old Faisal Ahmad.
Ghulam and Nazo attribute the deaths of all three children to malnutrition.
“Can you imagine the profound pain of losing three children? One moment you cradle a baby in your arms, the next, those arms are empty,” Nazo lamented.
“I pray each day that angels might somehow return my babies to our home.”
The couple often goes without food. They earn a meager living cracking walnut shells in the Sheidaee settlement on the outskirts of Herat, western Afghanistan, receiving no aid from the Taliban government or NGOs.
“To helplessly watch my children cry from hunger felt like my body was engulfed in flames. It felt as if someone was sawing me in half from head to foot,” Ghulam recounted.
While the deaths of their children go unrecorded, they represent a silent surge in mortality among Afghanistan’s youngest, as the nation grapples with what the UN has described as an unprecedented hunger crisis.
“We began the year with the highest recorded increase in child malnutrition in Afghanistan’s history. Since then, the situation has only deteriorated,” stated John Aylieff, Country Director for the World Food Programme.
“Food assistance previously kept hunger and malnutrition at bay, especially for the most vulnerable five million who rely on international support. That safety net has now been removed. The escalating malnutrition crisis is endangering the lives of over three million children.”
Aid has significantly diminished, largely due to the US, formerly the largest donor, halting nearly all assistance to Afghanistan earlier this year. The WFP also reports that eight or nine additional donors from the past two years have ceased funding, while many others have substantially reduced their contributions.
This reduction is partly attributed to donors responding to multiple global crises. However, the Taliban government’s policies are also influencing the international community’s willingness to provide aid.
What measures are being taken to support Afghan citizens?
“The malnutrition and hunger faced by our people are a direct consequence of sanctions and aid cuts imposed by international organizations, not the fault of the government,” Suhail Shaheen, head of the Taliban’s political office in Doha, asserted in an interview with the BBC.
“The government has amplified its support for the people and is committed to utilizing all available resources. However, our budget is reliant on internal revenues, and we are contending with sanctions.”
The Taliban’s stance on women’s rights is hindering its pursuit of international recognition and the lifting of sanctions. Recent decisions, such as the enforcement of a previously announced ban on Afghan women working for NGOs, are placing the delivery of “life-saving humanitarian assistance at serious risk,” according to the UN.
The malnutrition crisis is exacerbated by a severe drought impacting agricultural incomes in over half of Afghanistan’s provinces, and the forced repatriation of more than two million Afghans from Iran and Pakistan, which has reduced vital remittances.
At the Sheidaee graveyard, the scale of child mortality was evident. With no official records, we counted the graves ourselves. Approximately two-thirds of the hundreds of graves belonged to children, easily distinguished by their smaller size.
Villagers confirmed that the graveyard was relatively new, dating back two to three years, and that it was not exclusively designated for children.
During our visit to the Sheidaee settlement, residents emerged from their homes carrying their children. Rahila held Hibatullah, a two-year-old unable to stand. Durkhanee presented her son, Mohammad Yusuf, also nearly two and unable to stand.
The UN estimates that nearly half of all Afghan children under five are stunted.
Inside a mud and clay home, Hanifa Sayedi’s one-year-old son, Rafiullah, struggled to sit upright.
“I took him to a clinic, where I was told he’s malnourished, but I can’t afford to keep taking him there,” she explained. She and her husband have two other children, and the family’s only sustenance is dry bread and Afghan green tea. Some days, they go without food entirely.
Because Rafiullah has not yet developed teeth, Hanifa softens the bread in tea before feeding him.
“But it’s not enough; he’s constantly hungry. To help him sleep, I give him these medicines,” she said, displaying two strips of pills.
One strip contained Lorazepam, an anti-anxiety medication, and the other Propanolol, a drug used to control high blood pressure. Each strip costs 10 Afghani ($0.15; £0.13), equivalent to the price of a piece of bread. Hanifa admitted to purchasing them from a pharmacy, claiming she needed sleeping pills for herself.
“I feel immense guilt knowing my children are hungry, and I can’t do anything to help. I feel suffocated and contemplate ending my children’s lives and my own,” she confessed.
Medical professionals warn that administering such drugs to young children can cause damage to the heart, kidneys, and liver, and can even be life-threatening with prolonged use.
Hanifa’s plea echoes those of millions seeking assistance.
“It is profoundly heartbreaking to witness this unfolding. The WFP operates a hotline, and we’ve had to retrain our operators because we’re receiving more calls from women threatening suicide out of desperation, unsure how to feed their children,” WFP’s John Aylieff explained.
The cessation of food assistance to communities like Sheidaee and others across Afghanistan has resulted in more children facing severe acute malnutrition.
We have witnessed this firsthand in hospitals throughout Afghanistan.
In the malnutrition ward of the Badakhshan regional hospital in the northeast, 26 children were sharing 12 beds.
Three-month-old Sana, the ward’s youngest patient, was suffering from malnutrition, acute diarrhea, and a cleft lip. She was Zamira’s second child. Her first, also a baby girl, died at 20 days old.
“I fear this child will suffer the same fate. I’m weary of this life; it’s not worth living,” Zamira lamented, her face etched with despair.
As Zamira spoke, Sana’s hands and feet turned blue, indicating that her heart was not pumping sufficient blood. A nurse administered oxygen.
In another cot lay five-month-old Musleha, battling malnutrition and measles. Her mother, Karima, said she had barely opened her eyes in days.
“She’s in pain, and I’m helpless. We are impoverished and cannot afford nutritious food, which has led to her condition,” Karima explained.
Next to Musleha, twins Mutehara and Maziyan lay side-by-side. The baby girls, also afflicted with malnutrition and measles, weighed half of what they should at 18 months old. Mutehara emitted a feeble cry, clearly in pain.
A week after our hospital visit, we followed up with the families of the babies. We learned that Sana, Musleha, and Mutehara had all died.
While we have documented child deaths from malnutrition in Afghanistan before, this is the most severe situation we have encountered.
Within a week, three babies from a single ward became the latest victims of Afghanistan’s escalating hunger crisis.
And the situation is poised to worsen.
“The WFP’s humanitarian funding is projected to run out in November. We are already beginning to turn away malnourished women and children from health centers due to a lack of resources. Unless we receive a further injection of funding, we will be forced to halt operations in November,” warned John Aylieff.
With the onset of winter, the urgency of the unfolding disaster in Afghanistan cannot be overstated.
Additional reporting Mahfouz Zubaide, Aakriti Thapar, Sanjay Ganguly
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