The patients in a children’s hospital in Afghanistan are underweight: 4-month-old Murtaza weighs just 6 pounds, 5 ounces.
“We are so worried,” the infant’s mother told Imtiaz Tyab of CBS News.
Murtaza is just one of many children who seek treatment at the Kabul clinic for malnutrition.
According to a doctor at the hospital, the situation is not as dire as it seems. CBS News reported that approximately one to two children are dying each day from malnourishment in the hospital.
Such statistics are among the most striking examples of Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis: severe food shortages, hunger and economic collapse.
The Taliban took over the country quickly after the U.S. pulled its troops out of Afghanistan in August 2021. It has only gotten worse.
CBS News spoke with a person who said that life under Taliban rule is not easy. “terrible.”
“It’s a slow death for us. Life is not worth living when there’s no food and no work,”He said.
These people are hoping for assistance from a bakery because they cannot afford the 11 cent loaf of bread. Since the Taliban’s takeover, the Biden administration has frozen $7 billion in Afghan assets. The U.S. says it can’t be sure those funds wouldn’t be routed to terror groups.
The families of victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks may receive half of this money.
The U.S. State Department says it’s exploring ways to get the other half—some $3.5 billion—into the hands of the Afghan people.
For now, however, it’s not.
Hungry Afghans must rely on the kindness of their neighbors – like a man who purchased several dollars’ worth of bread to give out.
The United Nations says that 90% of Afghans don’t have enough food. The problem will only get worse as winter approaches.