As a direct result of the ongoing hybrid warfare by the United States and its European allies, the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan has continued to worsen over the past two months. According to a December report from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), only 5 percent of Afghanistan’s population has enough to eat and a record number of Afghans — 23 million — face acute hunger. Yet, the humanitarian crisis that is rapidly unfolding across mostly rural Afghanistan is entirely mitigable, with everyone from activists to scholars showing that it is a direct result of the economic blockade imposed by the Biden administration following the Taliban takeover in August. Due to the shortage of cash this has created, many Afghans — if they can find work at all — are not being paid.
Warhawks and imperialists in D.C. who claimed to oppose the U.S. troop withdrawal last year for “humanitarian” reasons are silent now that the Afghan people are starving. In the face of this mass suffering, Washington has predictably doubled down on its economic siege, refusing to lift long standing sanctions against the Taliban or even unfreeze the nearly $10 billion in sovereign assets that it has blocked the Afghan government from accessing. These economic weapons are especially devastating given the neocolonial conditions of dependency that the U.S./EU/NATO Axis of Domination imposed on Afghanistan during its decades long occupation.
Under the former US-backed puppet regime, three quarters of Afghanistan’s government spending came from international grants, while 43 percent of its 2020 economic output came from international “aid.” A January United Nations appeal for assistance to Afghanistan implicitly revealed the conditions of dependency facing the people as it called for $5 billion to cover food delivery, agriculture support, healthcare, water and sanitation, and education; all things that a fully sovereign government — free from imperialism — would be able to provide for its people. The Biden administration, by refusing to lift sanctions or even unfreeze Afghanistan’s assets, seeks to weaponize the conditions of dependency — imposed during 20 years of occupation — to destabilize the region and to make self-determination of the Afghan people impossible.
Yet, consistent with its white savior worldview, Washington continues to cloak its imperialist criminality behind a narrative of “humanitarianism.” In mid January, the White House announced around $300 million in “humanitarian assistance” from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), according to the Associated Press. This “assistance” is only a small fraction of the nearly $10 billion that Biden is preventing Afghanistan from accessing. Thus, the U.S. ruling elite continue to deny Afghans their sovereignty by stipulating that any and all funds go through pre-approved, Western NGOs. These so-called non-governmental organizations historically function as weaponized forms of “humanitarian intervention” — used to diminish government's central role, erode overarching social services, and create conditions favorable to capital.
Despite the best efforts of Washington to prevent self-determination, stability, and progress in Afghanistan, many regional neighbors continue to take small, but significant, steps toward realizing peace and stability in Afghanistan. This past December, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), a group of 57 primarily Muslim-majority nations pledged to create a humanitarian trust fund to be set up under the Islamic Development Bank. Such efforts to counter the murderous economic weaponry of the U.S. will ease the suffering Afghan people have been forced to endure, while also aiding in their struggle to achieve national self-determination.
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