Greetings!
Several have written asking how things are going in Afghanistan. The short answer is, We think we have problems!
Afghanistan has a self-isolation government order enforced by its police and soldiers. The government doesn’t provide food stamps, unemployment payments, grants and loans to businesses. Nor will it be sending anyone $1,200. There are no government safety net programs, other than free medical care. Schools normally open in March. They didn’t and are now closed. There's no online home schooling. We must also take into account that wars and terrorist attacks have been waged inside the country for 40 years.
The United States negotiated and signed a withdrawal agreement with the Taliban on February 29th, without the Afghan government being allowed to participate in the negotiations. The agreement provided for the release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners and 1,000 Afghan prisoners held by the Taliban. The US agreed to “urge” the Afghan government to release its Taliban prisoners by the 10th of March, less than two weeks after the withdrawal agreement was signed. The Taliban were not by the express terms of the agreement obligated to meet and negotiate with the Afghan government until the Taliban prisoners were released. Release 5,000 terrorists before the Taliban are obligated to talk! Does that make any sense, except to someone who wants to make a deal at all cost? One hundred Taliban prisoners have been released and the vetting process is ongoing.
Elections were held in September, 2019. The results were finally announced by its election commission on February 18th, eleven days before the withdrawal agreement was signed. Incumbent, President Ashraf Ghani won with 50.4% of the vote. Abdullah Abdullah lost receiving 39.2%. He refused to accept the determination of the election commission, which incidentally had been approved and described as "inclusive" by the US.
Abdullah Abdullah and his followers maintain he won and refuse to recognize the current government as legitimate. They held an inauguration for Abdullah Abdullah the same day as Ashraf Ghani's. Why care what they think? The threat of an armed insurrection waged by the Taliban and armed militia controlled by his supporters is the answer.
The exact same scenario occurred after the 2014 election. At the "urging" of the US, Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah negotiated a “power sharing deal”. That led to five years of playing who's boss. They have been unable agree upon a new power sharing deal. As a consequence, Mike Pompeo recently announced that the US is reducing its support to Afghanistan by $1 billion, a decision which he said may or may not be reversed. He also threatened to reduce support by another billion next year. What would be the impact to the people of the loss of two billion dollars? Teachers in Afghanistan are paid $150 - $200 a month.
ISIS, a separate terrorist faction in Afghanistan was not a party to the withdrawal agreement. It has claimed responsibility for firing five rockets into the Bagram air base located outside Kabul last Thursday. Bagram is where Basir must pick up our shipments to Afghanistan.
As of April 6 there were 367 Coronavirus cases in Afghanistan. Two hundred and ten (210) or 57% were Afghans who had returned from Iran. Fifteen to twenty thousand Afghans who were living in Iran are fleeing to Afghanistan every day. Of course, there is no testing at the border.
That summarizes how the country is doing as a whole. How are we doing? Relatively well, although we closed our ten libraries. They will reopen when the schools open. Basir retrieved our computers from several of our libraries fearing that they would be stolen and sold by the desperate. That happened to one of our libraries several years ago.
The 68 sponsored children will continue to receive the monthly support provided by their sponsors. Most receive $50 per month. Many will be the main income provider within their family.
The shipment we made to Afghanistan last October has been completely distributed to families living in the refugee camps. My porch doesn’t runneth over but donations are piling up. Hopefully we’ll be able to send a shipment this October. It could well be our last. The withdrawal agreement provides for our complete withdrawal by June 2021.
