In Afghanistan, Food Shortages May Fuel Unrest
Posted on September 23, 2008 by Leah Hazard
As winter approaches the food shortages are already affecting the country's internal security, and things are likely to get worse when snow falls next month, reports the New York Times.
Returning refugees are already converging on the cities because they cannot manage in the countryside, and they make easy recruits for the Taliban or other groups that want to create instability, said Ashmat Ghani, an opposition politician and tribal leader from Logar Province, south of Kabul, the nation’s capital.
A photo slide show from the New York Times' depicts the crisis through haunting images of Afghanistan's landscape and citizens.
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Top Female Leader in Afghanistan Murdered
The International Herald Tribuneissued a report today on the current violence in Afghanistan, including the murder by the Taliban of the top female police officer in the country. Malalai Kakar was considered a role model for female police officers and an example of women's progress in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban.
Food Shortage Represents Ideal for Taliban
As more and more Afghan men and boys struggle to feed their families, the Taliban will find the ideal environment to make their force grow. According to Time World, the Soft Taliban provides lucrative financial incentives that pale in comparison to offers by the Kabul government. Desperate males in need of feeding their hungry families, become understandably easy targets for the Taliban.
"They very much want to join the government, provided that they have security and opportunities for work," he says. But it would help if government subsidies came their way. Says Meerza: "There is still a great distance from here to Kabul... There is very little incentive from the government to cooperate." He says Pakistanis are offering $1,000 stipends to commanders who join the Taliban, that he's been approached himself. And the Kabul government's counter-offer to work against the Taliban? $10. "There's no incentive," he says repeatedly. He says that the anti-government fighters have varying motivations. "Sixty to seventy percent are fighting for the money," he says. "Thirty to forty percent are fighting for Islam."
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