Muhsin Abdul-Hakim '24
As we all know, the country of Afghanistan is currently going through a major crisis. The Taliban are sweeping through the country at an alarming pace. Because the U.S pulled out without taking every weapon they brought in, the Taliban have increased their weaponry and are even selling these weapons across the globe. This could be a massive issue with other groups similar to the Taliban who don’t have the weapons to conquer and become major powers.
It is predicted that the breakdown of its health system will lead to the deaths of thousands of children who do not have access to proper health care. There are food shortages across the country and the people of the country can’t feed themselves because the country is running out of food and assistance will take a while to arrive so more people will pass away as a result. According to the U.N, more than 600,000 people are displaced. Also, these U.N figures indicate that 80% of these people are women and children.
COVID-19 is still raging throughout the country with most people not being fully vaccinated. Most people don’t even know that COVID is a pandemic going around. They lack basic needs for health, and at some health centers, there weren’t even any doctors or nurses on duty. They only had tables full of basic needs such as small first aid kits and other sorts of things. The aforementioned health system breakdown could cause more deaths than would be preventable with proper healthcare. Jobs are vanishing in the urban areas so more Afghans are moving to rural areas where there is even less healthcare and hospitals. Because of the fact that the Taliban have taken over the country, countries are less willing to send help. In their eyes, the government is corrupt. There has been data showing that a woman dies while giving childbirth every two hours.
Before the Taliban took power, Afghanistan was actually improving health-wise, with life expectancy rising 10 years in the last two years. However, this progress halted as more conflict began. While this is happening, the Taliban are still taking cities all around the country with very little resistance. There are small militias towards the north of the country trying their best to defend what they have but they are still a little match for the quickly spreading Taliban. The U.N is finally starting to give assistance, but they have said that it might be too late. This country is going through several crises which have all combined to make one combined crisis. As I have said throughout this piece, the Afghan people are going through a very difficult time. This does beg the question: Was it a good idea for the U.S to pull out?
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