Parents are having to make impossible decisions – which of their children do they feed? Do they send their children to work or let them starve? These are excruciating choices that no parent should have to make. We treat frighteningly ill children every day who haven’t eaten anything except bread for months. I’ve never seen anything like the desperate situation we have here in Afghanistan. The Afghanistan country director of Save the Children said in mid-February: “The huge spike in prices caused by the economic crisis has left many families unable to afford food.” The International Rescue Committee has concluded that, “naddressed, the current humanitarian crisis could lead to more deaths than twenty years of war.” A February 2022 survey by Save the Children found that 82 percent of Afghan families had lost wages since August 2021 and almost one in five were sending children to engage in labor (for miniscule wages), while 7.5 percent stated they were resorted to begging or requesting money or food from charity. Afghan children are starving to death nearly every day. Humanitarian organizations have repeatedly issued warnings about the sheer scale of the crisis and how much worse it can get. At least 55 percent of the population is “ expected to be in crisis or emergency levels of food insecurity” through March 2022, according to the United Nations. Acute malnutrition is spiking across the country and 95 percent of households have been experiencing insufficient food consumption and food insecurity. Since the US withdrawal and the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, the country has endured a deepening and increasingly deadly humanitarian crisis. How serious is the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan? What should be done to address Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis?.How can relief from existing sanctions improve the situation?.If the Central Bank is given access to assets, can’t the Taliban just take the funds?.Can increasing foreign assistance end the humanitarian crisis?.Can President Biden’s February 11 order be changed or overturned?.Did the Biden administration set aside $3.5 billion of Afghan currency reserves for families of victims of the September 11 attacks?.Did the Biden administration seize Afghan foreign currency reserves in the US?.Were these economic actions taken because of international sanctions?.What makes the humanitarian crisis the result of an economic crisis?.How has the humanitarian crisis affected women and girls?.How serious is the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan?.Many markets in Afghanistan are open but most households lack cash to purchase food. A butcher waits for customers in Kabul, Afghanistan, February 21, 2022.

Lost judgment fleeing overnight