Dayne Curry

REFLECTIONS OF AN AMERICAN HUMANITARIAN WORKER WITH 15 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE IN AFGHANISTAN: In recent years, I managed a humanitarian project funded by BHA in one of the most remote regions of Central Afghanistan. That program provided life-saving medical assistance to hard to reach villages with no access to health care. As part of this work, I met a woman at our mobile health clinic that walked three days through the dead of winter to find treatment for her children. Many of them were suffering from severe malnourishment and pneumonia. She had one child die earlier that winter because the government-run clinic in her province had no medicines. The health care we provided saved the lives of her children. We didn’t solve all of Afghanistan’s problems, but we made a difference in lives of ordinary Afghans. When USAID terminated all humanitarian funding this week to Afghanistan, they cut off those health programs that save the lives of children. They stopped critical food aid that ensures that women living in rural regions can feed their families. They cut off aid that provides safe, reliable drinking water to communities suffering from drought. They cut off temporary employment programs that ensure young people have a basic income. One may ask: why does America care whether Afghan people have food, water and medicine? Besides the humanitarian imperative, there are several compelling reasons: 1. When Afghan communities can’t access enough food or clean drinking water, the people must leave their villages and migrate to find a livable situation. Some may move to neighboring communities, causing conflict. Others will leave for neighboring countries, creating political tensions with Pakistan and Iran. And many more may migrate to the West. Cutting humanitarian aid will fuel more mass migration, including many undocumented migrants coming to Europe and North America looking for jobs. 2. When Afghan youth cannot secure basic livelihoods or earn enough income to survive, there are increased risks that they may join armed opposition groups for economic reasons. Evidence shows that ISIS pays substantial sums to young men who are economically destitute. This is not to suggest that Afghan men believe in these ideologies, but when facing the prospect of watching their families starve, many may feel like they have no choice. Cutting humanitarian aid will fuel recruitment of more young Afghan men to participate in terror groups simply as a means to survive. 3. As the Afghan economy weakens, there is significant potential of a return to increased opium cultivation by farmers and smugglers. Humanitarian aid initiatives have helped provide farmers with alternatives to growing poppies. But without that support, many will return to this lucrative industry. Heroin produced in Afghanistan ends up in markets all over the world, including the US. Ending humanitarian aid in Afghanistan will damage efforts to curb the international drug trade and will even put American lives at risk. We don’t have to guess what happens when the U.S. abandons the Afghan people. After the Soviet pullout in 1988, the U.S. all but eliminated its support, as well. The result was the 1990’s: a brutal civil war, and political upheaval that ultimately resulted in the 9/11 attacks and 20 years of international conflict. The bottom line is this: Cutting humanitarian aid to Afghanistan does not make America safer or stronger. It does not provide some supposed counter to the Taliban. It only hurts the Afghan people in ways that will place the entire region and world at greater risk. Humanitarian aid in Afghanistan is a force for good. I hope that we will soon return to a policy that understands that there are meaningful ways to support the Afghan people, including women and children, while still prioritizing American interests. And I hope that we will see the value of America continuing to have a voice in one of the most challenging regions of the world.

🚨JAMES TALARICO: “Christ is the immigrant deported without due process. Christ is the senior deprived of their Social Security benefits. Christ is the protestor kidnapped in an unmarked vehicle by plain clothes officers.”