Huge Locust Outbreak Threatens Afghanistan’s Wheat Basket

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Lisa Schlein
VOA News
May 14, 2023

GENEVA — Growing risks of a potentially large Moroccan locust outbreak sweeping across northern Afghanistan’s eight provinces, the country’s wheat basket, will have devastating consequences for millions of Afghan people already suffering from acute hunger if not controlled, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.

“It is a heartbreaking story that could be unfolding,” said Richard Trenchard, FAO representative in Afghanistan.

Speaking from the capital Kabul, Trenchard said, “Its impact could be enormous in a country facing one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises.”

The Moroccan locust is ranked among the most economically damaging plant pests anywhere in the world. FAO warns it eats more than 150 species of plants, including tree crops, pastures, and food crops, all of which grow in Afghanistan.

Trenchard said a full outbreak this year could result in losses of more than a million metric tons of wheat, “up to a quarter of the total annual harvest” and economic losses of up to $500 million.

“There are heroic local efforts going on—communities, FAO, our NGO partners, and the authorities to do physical control. But it may be too little, too late to stop the outbreak.”

He said, “We will see in the next few days and weeks, as the hoppers, the adolescent locust become adults, the true scale. It will certainly lead to a spike of humanitarian needs,” noting that “up to three million people directly could be affected.”

The United Nations reports the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan has become more severe since the Taliban took control of the country in mid-August 2021, adding that their discriminatory policies against women have worsened the country’s humanitarian and economic situation.

The World Food Program reports 19.9 million people face acute hunger and 6 million are on the verge of famine. It says nearly half of children under five and a quarter of pregnant and breastfeeding women are acutely malnourished and need life-saving nutrition support in the next 12 months.

U.N. agencies report the Ukraine crisis, triggered by Russia’s invasion of the country, has caused the price of food, fuel, and other commodities to rise, making them unaffordable in many countries, including in Afghanistan.

Trenchard notes that the harvest forecasts this year are the best following three years of drought. This, he said makes it particularly distressing to see that “this outbreak threatens to destroy all these recent gains and dramatically worsen the food insecurity situation later this year and into next year.”

He said thousands of people have been working day and night, shoulder-to-shoulder to kill the hopper bands before they become adults and begin to swarm. Despite these herculean efforts, he said he feared the impact would be limited.

He explained that people have been forced to use traditional physical control methods to reduce the locust threat such as “sweeping locusts by hand into trenches or onto tarpaulins and destroying them.

“Chemical control is the tried-and-tested method for controlling locusts around the world, including here,” he said. “But chemical supplies were too low to mount a systematic campaign earlier this year.”

He noted that Afghanistan used to have a very strong locust control system in place, which has been heavily eroded in the last two years of Taliban rule.

The FAO representative warns the Moroccan locust population could increase its numbers by 100-fold in the next year if left untreated “creating even bigger problems for agriculture and food security for Afghanistan and that of its neighbors.”

Afghanistan Reports First Polio Case This Year

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By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi
May 13, 2023

Afghanistan on May 13 reported its first polio case this year after a 4-year-old child was diagnosed with the crippling disease. Kamal Shah, the head of the communications department of the UNICEF Polio Eradication Program in Afghanistan, told RFE/RL the case was recorded in the Bati-Kot district of the eastern province of Nangarhar. Two cases were recorded last year. Afghanistan and Pakistan are the only countries in the world where wild polio is still endemic. The viral disease can only be prevented by vaccination. Islamic militants often target polio-vaccination teams, falsely claiming the vaccination campaigns are a Western conspiracy to sterilize children.

Copyright (c) 2023. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

Lost In Transactions: Afghans Living In Iran Left Stranded By Lack Of Access To Bank Cards

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Freshta Negah
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
May 13, 2023

Iran is implementing modern new payment systems to make it easier for its citizens to use public transportation and get their subsidized daily bread. But Afghans living in the country say they are being left behind due to immigration policies that restrict their access to bank cards.

Afghan migrants are complaining that not being able to have bank cards makes it difficult to use city subways, access mobile phone services, and even to get their daily bread.

Mirwais, who has lived in the southwestern city of Shiraz for over 20 years, says the limitations add to the “pressure” he and other Afghans face every day in Iran.

“All the migrants face this,” said Mirwais, who gave only his first name in a telephone interview with RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi. “Whether in Shiraz, Tehran, or Isfahan, migrants suffer and are under pressure all over Iran.”

Digital Divide

The lack of access to basic services can be traced to requirements imposed years ago that effectively prevent many members of Iran’s large Afghan community from obtaining bank cards. While Iran has made the leap to Internet banking, online purchases, and digital card readers, migrants must still go in person to a bank to make withdrawals or send wire payments.

Some Afghans living in Iran say they cannot open a bank account at all, while others complain that they face limits on the amount they can withdraw. Getting mobile phone service has also been made difficult due to Iran’s crackdown on unregistered SIM cards.

The problem has been compounded by the need for bank cards to purchase transportation tickets or to apply for new smart cards introduced for purchasing subsidized goods from bakeries, meaning Afghans have to rely on workarounds just to put food on the table or travel around.

Mohammad Amiri, 26, has lived in Tehran with his wife and child for more than two years, but still faces difficulties carrying out everyday tasks.

“In the [Tehran] subway, you need to pay with a bank card. They don’t accept cash,” he told Radio Azadi. “Some [Iranians] buy tickets for us [in exchange for cash], but others don’t.”

“Unfortunately, as Afghan migrants, we don’t have the right to have a bank card or even a SIM card. This is a real problem for us,” he said.

Mirwais expressed the same frustration, saying that if fellow passengers are not willing to purchase electronic passes for them, he and other Afghans must take taxis at much greater expense.

He said the same goes for bakeries, which recently introduced a new “smartization” system that uses special cards that allow customers to automatically deduct their purchases from a state-subsidized account.

The initiative has been touted by officials as a way of more effectively distributing subsidies, easing skyrocketing prices for flour and bread, and eliminating graft.

‘They Make It Hard’

Officials have denied they are excluding anyone and have pledged to fix any difficulties stemming from the new systems, saying that there are alternatives to using bank cards and that the Tehran subway allows Afghan nationals experiencing payment issues to ride for free.

But Afghans who spoke to Radio Azadi said the reality is much different.

“My wife offered the baker money six times, but the baker would not accept it, saying she must bring a bank card,” Mirwais said this week. “There are some [Iranians] who offer their cards, one in 1,000. They give their cards and take cash to resolve the problem.”

“We go to the bank, they don’t accept our passports; we go to buy a SIM card, they don’t accept our passports,” Mirwais said. “It should be easy to use the subway, but the government makes it hard for migrants.”

Millions Of Migrants

An estimated 3 million Afghans, many of them undocumented refugees and migrants, live in Iran. Many have complained of widespread discrimination and abuse.

More than 1 million Afghans crossed into Iran in 2021, often en route to third countries, as the Taliban advanced and eventually seized power in Afghanistan that year. Iranian authorities have reportedly deported more than half of recent arrivals.

Many Afghan migrants in Iran moved to the Islamic republic decades ago amid political upheaval and war. Iran has also long been a destination country for Afghan migrant workers seeking seasonal jobs.

Migrants are officially divided into two categories in Iran: those who are documented and have passports, residency, or immigration cards, and the undocumented. The latter group includes Afghans who never held passports in their home country.

Iran provides one-year residency permits for more recent arrivals, and has said that full access to banking and social services, including health insurance, are available to all migrants who officially register their names and information with the Interior Ministry. More than 2 million foreign nationals have complied and are on the books, according to the ministry.

But mired in its own economic crisis amid skyrocketing inflation and rising food prices, Iran has often expressed alarm at the number of undocumented Afghans on its soil.

Undocumented Afghans like Amiri have little hope of gaining access to basic services, and even those who have residency permits can only hold bank accounts for the one-year period of their stay.

“We can’t open a bank account because we don’t have any [identity] documents with us,” Amiri said.

“We applied at several banks, but they’ve told us that we must wait. So, we’re just waiting to see what will happen. Having a bank card is essential for us, for our daily lives.”

Written by Michael Scollon based on reporting by Freshta Negah of RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi

Copyright (c) 2023. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

Panjshir University Students Say They Were Told to Leave Dormitory

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Tolo News: Students at Panjshir University said that the building serving as the university’s dormitory has been changed to a Jihadi seminary recently, and they have been told to leave the building soon. Around 300 students who are living in the dormitory said the decision will force them to give up university, saying they are not financially able to pay for private lodging. Click here to read more (external link).

Taliban’s Deadly Assault: Four Innocent Lives Lost in Badakhshan Province

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8am: Reportedly, the Taliban fighters opened fire on the civilians after encountering resistance from the locals during the destruction of their opium farms. It is also said that four Taliban members were injured in the subsequent attack by the residents using stones and sticks. Click here to read more (external link).

Can Online Education, Work Bypass Taliban Barriers for Afghan Women?

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Akmal Dawi
VOA News
May 12, 2023

WASHINGTON — As the pandemic-related remote work model fades in most parts of the world, women in Afghanistan have found the practice a potential remedy to the Taliban’s ban on women being employed outside the home.

Women employed by the United Nations and other international aid agencies are often provided laptops and links to networks that enable them to keep earning paychecks without explicitly violating the Taliban’s rules.

The Taliban ban, imposed on Afghan women working for nongovernmental organization in December 2022 and extended in April 2023 on women who work for U.N. agencies, has impacted thousands of Afghan women who work for international aid agencies in Afghanistan.

The Islamist leadership has fired all female government employees, except in the health and education ministries, and has set up a men-only interim government.

While remote work has ensured women do not lose income, a lifeline for many female-headed households, there are questions about the long-term viability of the practice.

Amid extremely limited access to electricity, internet and other technological resources in the country, there is also no policy clarity from a hardline Islamist government that has systemically deprived women of their fundamental social and political rights.

“By the time the U.N. perfects the work from home model the Taliban might ban internet or the sites that are used to work,” said Pashtana Durrani, executive director of Learn Afghan, a non-governmental organization promoting education for girls.

Two Taliban spokesmen were contacted to explain the regime’s policy on virtual work and education for women, but none responded.

Pros and cons

While work from home is widely considered better than no work at all, experts say the practice has both immediate and long-term consequences for professional women.

“In societies where women cannot work outside of the house, remote work is one step toward financial freedom and growth in one’s professional development,” said Jeanne Meister, a workplace strategist.

Avoiding daily commutes to worksites, staying away from “microaggressions” in the office, and being close to children are some of the additional benefits of working from home.

“Having work from home is a lot better than no work, but it will damage women’s long-run promotions in comparison to those in the office,” said Nick Bloom, a professor of economics at Stanford University and researcher on work from home.

“We found employees that work from home four days a week had a 50% lower promotion rate controlling for performance,” Bloom said.

There are also personal development and social networking downsides associated with permanent work from home.

“Women benefit from additional social networks when they meet other women working from their community if they work in offices,” said Suhani Jalota, a social entrepreneur and a women’s health and employment researcher at Stanford University.

Online education

In addition to work, the Taliban has banned education for girls above 12 years old. The policy deprives 1.1 million secondary school and more than 100,000 university students from both public and private education.

More than 2.5 million Afghan girls are estimated to be missing education for various social, economic and policy reasons, according to the U.N.

To remedy the crisis, some activists have launched online educational programs for teenage girls in Afghanistan.

“Online classes have been really effective for high school and college-level students,” said Lamar Zala Gran, director of an organization that provides online classes in mathematics, language and technology for young girls and women.

Students also receive mental awareness advice to overcome daily anxiety and stress associated with their inability to go outside of their homes, Gran wrote to VOA.

Despite their perceived effectiveness, online education is not widely accessible. Some Afghan educational videos shared on YouTube have viewership in single digits, while live classes on platforms such as Zoom do not reach many students.

The nearly universal poverty in Afghanistan is considered a major barrier for girls’ education, online and in-person.

“We have students who do not have laptops and it’s difficult for us to teach them writing skills,” Gran said. In some cases, up to eight students will join a class using a single laptop or mobile phone — but the class is canceled because of poor internet connection.

“There is a global sympathy and also solidarity with Afghan girls and women,” said an Afghan education activist who did not want to be named. “But what is missing is a coherent, integrated and organized approach which could effectively undermine the Taliban’s misogynistic bans.”

Taliban and ISIS continue to fight for Afghanistan’s future

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ISIS Militants

Asia Times: The Taliban’s ability to lead remains questionable and instability has provided Islamic State the opportunity for expansion – On top of attracting more members to ISIS’ ranks, the Taliban fear ISIS will erase what little legitimacy they have as a governing force by keeping Afghanistan unstable. The Taliban’s leadership remains plagued by division and lacks any international recognition. Click here to read more (external link).

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