International Insanity In Afghanistan almost twelve million Afghans live in poverty. Nine million suffer hunger and are in danger of starving.
On August 18, the European Union (EU) decided to set aside 125 million euros (167 million USD) to compensate producers for throwing away perishable food items.
The same day, Reuters reported US weapons are being used to destroy US weapons.
The mother of such international insanity is war in Afghanistan, Iraq and Ukraine.
Poor Afghan children in a camp in Afghanistan. (Photo: RAWA.org)
If an F-16 were to take off from the Air Force Base in Turkey and fly two hours to Erbil, Iraq, and successfully drop both its bombs on one target, it costs the US somewhere between 84,000 to 104,000 USD for the sortie and destroys a minimum of one million USD and a maximum of 12 million USD in US-made equipment captured by and in possession of ISIS jihadists, estimated Reuters.
Russians and Ukrainians are also facing off with tanks, guns, bombs and planes all made in the same factories. They were the same country a mere 23 years ago. And even after that they maintained close military ties until few months back, when US-EU-NATO sought to make Ukraine a Western ally and Russia opposed it.
The EU order to its farmers is because Russia hit back at the Western sanctions over Ukraine with its own yearlong ban on food imports from Europe, the US, Australia, Canada and Norway.
Farmers will leave food to rot to “reduce the level of supply so the prices don't drop to crisis levels”, said European Commission spokesman Roger Waite.
EU exports of fruit and vegetables to Russia were worth about 2.7 billion USD last year. Countries hardest hit by the Russian ban are not the wealthiest European countries: Poland, Spain, and Lithuania.
The typical diet in Afghanistan is bread with a watery soup, some onions, a potato, rice, perhaps a bone and some yogurt or oil.
In the old days, Afghans could produce enough to eat by subsistence farming – growing enough to feed one’s family. Between the disruptions of armed conflict and an inadequate, unpredictable rainfall, that is no longer possible. Afghans must earn money to buy food and food prices are high. Too many survive on less than a dollar a day. Twelve million Afghans earn less than 45 cents a day.
The amount of money the US has spent on agricultural development in Afghanistan is less than one per cent of what has been spent on military efforts.
The decade-long US wars here and in Iraq would end up costing as much as 6 trillion USD, the equivalent of 75,000 USD for every American household, calculates the prestigious Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.
According to its 2013 report, both wars “will be the most expensive wars in US history—totalling somewhere between 4 trillion and 6 trillion USD” that includes long-term medical care and disability compensation for service members, veterans and families, military replenishment and social and economic costs.
“The largest portion of that bill is yet to be paid,” the report says. It reveals one out of every two veterans has already applied for permanent disability benefits. “One-third of returning veterans are being diagnosed with mental health issues—suffering from anxiety, depression, and/or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).”
Here, the sufferings of the estimated 28 million Afghans –60 percent youth – are equally revealing.
Like the American soldiers, Afghan soldiers and civilians also die and suffer disabilities. However, it has been estimated that twenty-five times as many Afghans die of under nutrition and poverty every year than die from violence. Life expectancy is around 50 years old.