Over a month has passed since devastating floods swept through Afghanistan. The Taliban have yet to provide precise figures on casualties, injuries, displaced persons, or financial losses. Meanwhile, international aid agencies have reported conflicting statistics. Many flood-affected areas have lost their entire livelihoods and face extremely difficult conditions, with widespread complaints of lack of assistance. People in these regions are suffering from absolute hunger and homelessness, having lost all their possessions. Besides causing widespread economic damage and infrastructure destruction, the floods have also led to an increase in various diseases.
Economic experts argue that the recent floods have pushed people’s livelihoods to the brink of disaster, necessitating international assistance for the victims. They claim the Taliban regime cannot provide services and address the flood-affected situation due to its lack of domestic and international political legitimacy.
Under Taliban management, Afghan government institutions are deemed to lack the necessary capacity to deal with natural disasters and climate change. The Taliban-managed Ministry of State for Disaster Management has been unable to consolidate the casualties, financial losses, and economic repercussions of the floods in the country over the past month in order to facilitate assistance based on them.
Most government institutions operating under Taliban control have been unable to provide accurate statistics on casualties, injuries, agricultural land destruction, livestock deaths, and infrastructure destruction in the flood-affected provinces over the past month. The lack of accurate identification of the affected has led to a deadlock in the assistance provided by domestic and foreign organizations, and in many cases, with direct Taliban intervention to seize aid, those in need are deprived of emergency and livelihood assistance.
The devastating floods, alongside infrastructure destruction, disruption of transportation routes, human casualties, and financial losses, have placed flood victims at risk of severe hunger, lack of drinking water, and various diseases.
Many flood victims say they have lost all means of livelihood and survival. According to them, they have no shelter and are living in the open, facing the threat of famine. The incidence of diseases such as diarrhea, fever, and sore throat among women and children is among the major health challenges that the floods have brought upon residents of many provinces.
During this time, the Taliban not only have not provided accurate statistics and details of human casualties and extensive destruction of homes and agricultural lands but have also lacked a plan for emergency assistance to flood-affected areas, and have waited days to either participate in the distribution process of some aid agencies or distribute aid from some countries in a discriminatory manner to flood victims in various provinces of the country.
However, economic experts say that the financial losses resulting from the destruction of roads, bridges, small dams, and government and private facilities amount to millions of dollars.
Economic experts emphasize that people currently need housing and production. According to them, flood victims have lost most of their livestock and agricultural lands, which were their sole source of income.
According to economic experts, tens of thousands of acres of land have been submerged under floods, transportation routes have been destroyed, and communication in some provinces, including Badakhshan, Ghor, Takhar, Faryab, and some areas of Herat, has been cut off, resulting in serious challenges for residents of these areas.
These experts state that the urgent and singular way to attract international aid is through a suitable political framework and a lawful, official government, which Afghanistan currently lacks. They argue that, given the current situation, the world will not pay attention to the Taliban’s call in this regard. Economic analysts believe that national mobilization is needed to address the current problems, with all civil actors and private economic sectors striving to utilize all resources to help the flood victims.
Economic experts emphasize that over the past month, precise statistics on flood-affected individuals, casualties, and damages have not been established. In their view, the Taliban regime is responsible for relocating the flood victims to safe places, rebuilding homes and infrastructure for those who have lost them, and compensating for the incurred damages.
Azarakhsh Hafizi, an informed economic expert, told the Hasht-e Subh Daily that even before the floods, Afghanistan was facing difficult conditions. According to him, chronic poverty, persistent unemployment, the expulsion of refugees from various countries, increasing restlessness among the population, and natural disasters, especially floods, have pushed the situation to the brink of disaster.
Mr. Hafizi adds that the flooding in provinces such as Badakhshan, Ghor, Baghlan, Badghis, Faryab, and Takhar, alongside human casualties, has also caused immense financial damages. People’s mud shelters and agricultural lands have been destroyed, and their livestock have perished.
The economic expert emphasizes that due to the devastation caused by the floods, proper assistance has not been provided. He underscores that Afghanistan’s private sector has contributed over 200 million Afghanis to recent flood victims, but compared to the extensive damages incurred, these contributions are insignificant, and hundreds of millions of Afghanis are needed to address the damages.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has stated that many water supply networks have been destroyed following the recent floods in Afghanistan. According to UNICEF, families in flood-affected areas require water for drinking, cooking, and bathing.
On the other hand, the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the situation in flood-affected areas as critical, with relief organizations having less access to the affected due to extensive damage to transportation infrastructure, including roads and bridges.
Furthermore, the World Food Programme (WFP) has stated that as a result of the flooding, 80,000 people in Afghanistan have been affected. This organization had previously stated that the floods in Baghlan Province alone claimed the lives of at least 300 people.
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