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As President Karzai spoke yesterday to the London summit on Afghanistan, most of the focus was on the military side of the war. Yet the number one killer in Afghanistan isn't al Qaeda or the Taliban. Poverty causes more deaths of Afghan civilians annually than all IEDs, suicide attacks and roadside bombs combined.
In September, I returned to Kabul with UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency, and spoke to displaced people and former refugees both in and outside the city. They were among the five million Afghans who have returned since 2002 in the hope of restarting their lives. It became overwhelmingly clear that though their overriding wish was for peace and security, their biggest worry was surviving the winter. Without fail, they pointed to the lack of shelter, jobs, schools, clinics and clean water.
Although some refugees have reintegrated successfully, many still struggle. The returnees I met lived in squalid, abandoned public buildings or in tents, or on government land in dry, inaccessible areas. They lack basic services such as water, food, schools, clinics and jobs.
Poverty is not new in Afghanistan. The country was one of the world's poorest even before it was ravaged by 30 years of war. Today, more than 25,000 Afghan women die each year during pregnancy, childbirth or after delivery. Average life expectancy is 44. One in four children will die before age five. Seventy per cent of the country does not have access to clean water, and half live on less than $1 a day.
Combating this is no modest undertaking. But is a fight against poverty in Afghanistan worth taking on even as the military fight intensifies?
The Afghans themselves make a moral argument. They point to the huge sacrifices that they made during the Soviet war. They believe the final chapter of the Cold War was inked in Afghan blood. The West, they say, bears a moral responsibility to help them rebuild their country.
This argument might not find much traction in Washington. But consider this: poverty helps the insurgency. While it is true that some young Afghans join the insurgency because of grievances against the Kabul regime, or religious fervour, or because they see foreign troops as occupiers, many more join because of a shortage of options and a lack of opportunity. The insurgents benefit from the deplorable economic conditions in Afghanistan.
When people have a roof over their head, food on the table and a school for their children, they are not as vulnerable to exploitation by extremists. Young Afghans deserve a better option than being fighters, and it would serve us well to give it to them.
The West cannot do this alone. The Afghans must do their part: this is their nation. Many Afghans are disappointed with their government. Afghan leaders must acknowledge that their people expect better from them. They have to restore people's faith in state institutions and show a greater commitment to improving the lives of their own people.
But Afghans are a resourceful and industrious people. If the essentials can be provided — shelter, education, health care and economic opportunity — perhaps a new chapter of hope can be brought to the Afghan people.
Khaled Hosseini is the author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns.
Reader views (8)
I get annoyed when I hear people say Britain lets in too many Asylum seekers when much poorer nations like Iran for example take in far more. I am in no way a fan of the Iranian regime especially because of their treatment towards the people in Ahwaz province but thats the kind of leadership we have in the Muslim world so I suppose people put up with it.
- Abid, forest hill, London, 13/02/2010 10:55
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It is true sweep your own door first. Charity begin at home.First solve the problems in UK then see the overseas.Peoples in the UK are suffering and crying for their welfare, but govt is busy in Iraq and AF war.How long we will fool and provide false information to the public. TRUTH FEARS NO FALL
- Chishty, London, 30/01/2010 06:57
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When are the liberals going to realise we're a small country that can not save the world. We already contribute well above our weight in overseas aid and charitable giving. This government has failed to deal with poverty in Britain, what chance they can do it in a country that has never even had a unified government?
- Mark, London, 29/01/2010 16:34
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Would think this is a drop in the ocean to what the Taliban get from the drug racket,you would have to torch the poppy fields thereby cutting off their cashflow
- Brummie, birmingham uk, 29/01/2010 15:51
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what a wonderful idea,lets pay the taliban?suddenly the taliban will grow from a few thousand to a dole que of millions,so they can be all payed the rest of their lives to behave and go back to growing poppies,
- Orne, derby, 29/01/2010 13:32
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But poverty is the aim of the UK government too.
The aim of the NuLabour regime ( due to be changed very soon) is to pauperize the whole nation. They couple this with demoralization in the form of constant threats, warnings, laws and penalties at every turn.
Surveillance and monitoring which is the envy of every dictatorship in the world, out of control immigration, national debt for several decades, higher taxes, less disposable income, moral values dessimated and there you have the Labour Liberal agenda.
Why does this happen? To control and defeat the will of the people. When Democracy dies - and it does - you are left with Dictatorship.
As someone said recently, 'In the UK we have a Democraticly elected Dictatorship'.
If it wasn't so devasting you might larf.....
- Chris Williams, Cardiff, 29/01/2010 12:30
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Why Oh why didn't Churchill consider buying off the Nazi's in 1939? Think of all the suffering and chaos that would have been averted.
- Chris Williams, Cardiff, 29/01/2010 12:18
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British poverty is our biggest enemy.
I'd happily swap every one of our troops in Afghanistan for all the Afghans we have accumulated in this country.
We should leave the fighting to the Afghanis (they are very good at this destructive task), and send them much more Afghan manpower to get their country in control.
- Cap, London, 29/01/2010 10:24
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