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Hunger on rise in Afghanistan despite aid

GRAEME SMITH

From Wednesday's Globe and Mail

Latest comment posted at 4:36 PM EDT 06/05/08

Food situation has already affected country's stability, officials say ...Read the full article

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  1. BobtheBaptist Saves from lando'plenty, Canada writes: My but Canada is a great country - spending $10 million to feed the hungry people of Afghanistan while spending 100's of millions of dollars to kill them. And in Iraq the u.s. has spent one trillion dollars which amounts to about one million dollars for each Iraqi citizen they killed. But not all is lost. The u.s., soviet and canadian arms manufacturers are richer now than they have ever been after having to live in near poverty while waiting for the u.s. to find someone to hate and attack.

    "Making enemies is a great way to destroy one's own country."
  2. Ted Andrews from Canada writes:
    TROOPS OUT NOW!
  3. Udom Thongpai from Victoria, Canada writes: Canada is spending $1 billion a year on war in Afghanistan. We are spending 1/ 100th of that on feeding the starving there, and then wonder why we aren't winning.... "authorities in Kandahar estimate that 6,000 families recently displaced by fighting have received no help." If each family only has a Dad, a Mum and two children, that's 24,000 new refugees in our area, all of them hungry. But they're only mentioned in passing. Canada simply doesn't care what happens to the Afghan people.
  4. Richard Roskell from Canada writes: For every dollar Canada spends making war in Afghanistan, less than a nickel reaches the Afghan people in humanitarian assistance.

    Hang your head in shame, Canada.
  5. The Work Farce from Canada writes: Hahaha. What a riot. Who needs enemies when we already have the biofuel industry, agrobusiness and the hardcorn cornographers? When everybody is guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity there are no war crimes and no crimes against humanity. Freemarket anarchy rules and food grows out of the barrel of a gun. Travel, meet interesting people and starve them to death. The bad news is thousands of Afghans are hungrier than ever. The good news is thousands of new recruits joined the Afghan Army and get all the Tim Horton's doughnuts they can eat. While big daddy stuffs himself with timbits, the little woman back at the mudhut is munching on her burkha. Hunger is on the rise and the wool is over their eyes. What a riot. Here comes an angry mob of hungry Afghans. Quick. Throw them some democracy. That's it. Let them nibble on that bill of rights. Quickly now - to the armoured personnel carrier. And don't spare the corncobs.
  6. MR. oz from Canada writes: Canada has to get out of afghanistan and let them do good or starve by themselves! all people should have the right to stave or to get up and work and do well!
  7. Damian Brooks from Canada writes: Hmm. You figure this might have anything to do with the world food crisis going on now?

    From a 28APR Reuters article:

    "The Food and Agriculture Organisation's (FAO) Food Price Index, which measures the market prices of cereals, dairy, meat, sugar and oils, was 57 percent higher in March 2008 than the same month last year.

    Anger over those increases -- which have squeezed the world's poorest people hardest -- have sparked protests, strikes and riots in countries including Cameroon, Mozambique, Senegal, Haiti, Peru, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Afghanistan."

    This isn't just an Afghan problem, and it's not about the military intervention there, it's about a worldwide increase in food prices.

    Where's the context in this piece?
  8. Celtic Rob from Canada writes: Damian Brooks quotes the Reuters story about protests in Cameroon, Mozambique, Senegal, Haiti, Peru, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Afghanistan over food. Plus Egypt. Plus Somalia. Plus. . . . I've seen reports about the possibility for unrest in over 30 countries because of food shortages. I have no reason to doubt those numbers. The big concern is that food insecurity could lead to political insecurity, in over 30 countries. As Bertrand Russell once observed, "the desire for food has been, and still is, one of the main causes of political events."

    It is not a problem of making war Afghanistan. It's much bigger than that. It is a problem of not helping other countries develop their agricultural bases, so they can feed their own people.

    Since Canada exports about 80% of the grain it produces, it is in our national interest to have countries which are dependent our grain, rather than growing their own. And we are not the only country in that situation. The U.S. and Europe nations have the same circumstances.

    Damien, there's some more of your context.
  9. John E. from Canada writes: The Globe article mischaracterizes the problems as somehow being a result of our military involvement. People are less hungry in Afghanistan today than they would be under the Taliban.

    The issue can be summed up neatly. Switch to ethanol; starve an African.
    Surplus grains used to go to foreign aid. Now food is wasted as a fuel.
    There's your crime against humanity.
  10. Duncan Munro from Canada writes: Afghanistan is the world's largest exporter of opium and heroin, at a time when it cannot feed its people. NATO protects the warlords who control the poppy harvest, who in turn monopolize the best land to grow drugs instead of food.

    Canadian soldiers are dying to protect a narostate, that starves its population rather than grow food.

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