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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210928-with-malice-and-spite-the-us-has-unleashed-a-cruel-new-war-on-afghanistan/">middleeastmonitor.com</a>
<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">With malice and spite, the US has unleashed a cruel new war on Afghanistan</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Yvonne Ridley - September 28, 2021</div></div>
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<p>Tens of thousands of Afghan mothers will quite possibly not be able
to wave their children off to school in 2022 because their youngsters
will have starved to death in a crisis brought about by the US
government's decision to freeze $9.5 billion of Afghanistan's reserves
held in American banks. That is the harsh reality as Afghanistan's
economy spirals out of control with the formal banking system collapsing
because there is no cash in the till. Even the most basic services will
grind to a halt because there's no money to pay wages or buy food.
Washington's decision to unleash a cruel new war on Afghanistan is more
Uncle Joe Stalin than the Uncle Joe Biden we were led to expect when he
took office earlier this year.</p>
<p>While I'm quite sure that right-wing Western analysts and the largely
ignorant chattering classes will blame the ruling Taliban for this dire
situation, let us all be in no doubt that this action has all the
hallmarks of malice and spite in revenge for America's humiliating
military defeat at the hands of the resistance movement. This deliberate
retaliation is aimed squarely at the masses of rural Afghans for "not
fighting" and the relative ease with which the Taliban took control of
the country. The rapid advance and victory of the movement in August
could not have been achieved without the will of ordinary Afghans,
coupled with the surrender of the demoralised Afghan National Army
trained by the US and NATO.</p>
<p>America has never taken kindly to humiliation and dissent overseas.
The punishment which it exacted on the Palestinians after the 2006
democratic election involved cruel sanctions and punishing international
isolation. The US was outraged when it saw Hamas sweep to a convincing
victory over the secular Fatah movement in the Palestinian parliamentary
election. American retribution was swift, petulant and brutal. The
George W Bush administration assumed — wrongly, it turned out — that
Mahmoud Abbas and Fatah would win, but when Hamas was victorious it
sought to nullify the results and block a unity government. There were
even <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/mar/04/usa.israelandthepalestinians" target="_blank">US plots</a>
being considered to overthrow Hamas, and an attempt to stoke a civil
war, which led to Hamas taking security as well as political control of
Gaza.</p>
<p><strong>READ: </strong><strong><a title="After pro-Taliban post, ex-Afghan leader says Facebook account hacked" href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210927-after-pro-taliban-post-ex-afghan-leader-says-facebook-account-hacked/">After pro-Taliban post, ex-Afghan leader says Facebook account hacked</a></strong></p>
<p>Fifteen years and three Israeli wars later, the Palestinians in Gaza
are still living under a cruel siege and US-imposed sanctions which have
<a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/5/21/22440537/gaza-fighting-humanitarian-crisis" target="_blank">destroyed the economy</a>, wrecked livelihoods and created a humanitarian crisis for the two million living in the enclave.</p>
<p>This does not bode well for ordinary Afghans who are praying that the
US will lift its equally cruel sanctions and freezing of assets at the
eleventh hour. Judging from the <a href="https://www.nrc.no/news/2021/september/afghanistan-is-on-a-countdown-to-economic-collapse/" target="_blank">recent statement</a>
by Jan Egeland, Secretary-General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, who
is currently visiting Afghanistan, the signs are not good. There is now
"a race against the clock" to save lives before the harsh winter
arrives.</p>
<p>"Afghanistan's economy is spiralling out of control," explained
Egeland. "The formal banking system could collapse any day now because
of a lack of cash. I've spoken to families who tell me they are
surviving on tea and small scraps of old bread. If the economy
collapses, even the most basic services will no longer function, and
humanitarian needs will soar even higher. Dealing with the liquidity
crisis is critical as aid organisations seek to scale up to meet urgent
humanitarian needs."</p>
<p>The reality of today's Afghanistan is that hundreds of thousands of
displaced Afghans are in desperate need of shelter, warm clothes and
food ahead of the winter. Egeland admitted that the situation is so bad
that "one in three Afghans do not know where their next meal will come
from." He pointed out that his own staff are struggling to withdraw cash
to buy food or access savings from banks. "We have been unable to pay
staff their full salaries because it has been impossible to get money
into the country securely. Imagine this situation multiplied for every
employer across the country."</p>
<p>Friends of mine living in the Afghan capital, Kabul, have told me
similar stories. One of them queued for six hours only for the cash
machine to run out before he reached it. Another stood in line from
early morning until dusk before he was able to withdraw some cash, and
even then he was limited in the amount that he could get.</p>
<p>UN member states are being urged to act swiftly and broker an
agreement to stabilise the economy, fund appropriate public services to
pay government wages and create UN trust funds for humanitarian
organisations to operate as a stopgap.</p>
<p><strong>READ: </strong><strong><a title="Russia, Turkey to discuss developments in Syria, Libya, and Afghanistan" href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210928-russia-turkey-to-discuss-developments-in-syria-libya-and-afghanistan/">Russia, Turkey to discuss developments in Syria, Libya, and Afghanistan </a></strong></p>
<p>While the privileged elite in the major towns and cities of
Afghanistan will no doubt get through this latest crisis, there are huge
concerns about the 18 million Afghans who already rely on humanitarian
aid to survive. Fears for the internally displaced people, who number <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/afghanistan.html#:~:text=Afghans%20make%20up%20one%20of,for%20refuge%20within%20the%20country." target="_blank">around 3.5 million</a> (including the 664,000 displaced during fighting since January), are also escalating.</p>
<p>According to the <a href="https://docs.wfp.org/api/documents/WFP-0000131668/download/" target="_blank">latest World Food Programme telephone surveys</a>,
one in three Afghans already suffer from acute hunger. More than 93 per
cent of households consumed insufficient food in the past week.</p>
<p>Sadly this crisis seems to have escaped most Western media, which is still reporting stories about the <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/taliban-life-kabul-afghanistan-b1928145.html" target="_blank">lack of western clothes</a> and the presence of "longer coats" on evidence in Kabul. In Helmand, it appears that the Taliban have <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-58700159" target="_blank">banned barbers</a>
from trimming beards. Is that really the priority news on the ground,
BBC? Or is that what the right-wing agenda insists upon our national
broadcaster propagating?</p>
<p>The voices of the rural masses, accounting for 70 per cent of
Afghans, are not being listened to because they are not even being
heard. If the Americans and other UN states continue to punish them,
they will be silenced forever. Dead people can't cry for help any more.</p>
<p>The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not
necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.</p>
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