Child Hunger in Afghanistan Among Worst in the World

By John Glaser, Antiwar.com

10 March 12

hanks to the ruthless decade-long war, children in Afghanistan suffer one of the highest levels of chronic malnutrition in the world, according to a report released Monday by the World Bank and the government.

More than half of Afghan children under the age of five go hungry, the report said, despite billions of dollars in aid that has come into the country over the years.

One of the reasons the aid hasn't helped is because much of it is wasted or goes through the hands of corrupt Afghan officials. Another reason, mentioned by the report, is because "foreign assistance has disproportionally gone to the provinces where concentration of troops and fighting has been heaviest," said Josephine Bassinette of the World Bank. "But the analysis in this report shows that poverty and food insecurity rates are actually higher in the more peaceful provinces," she said.

Starvation of children is only one measure of the savage, unnecessary U.S. war in Afghanistan. Last month, Amnesty International found that an average of four hundred people are displaced in every day in Afghanistan, bringing the total displaced population to approximately 500,000.

Amnesty Afghanistan researcher Horia Mosadiq said: “Thousands of people are finding themselves living in freezing, cramped conditions and on the brink of starvation, while the Afghan government is not only looking the other way but even preventing help from reaching them."

The U.S. continues to make no progress in its failed effort to stabilize Afghanistan and build a reliable client state. Rates of violence continue to hit record highs and civilian casualties have risen for every 6 month period since the surge in 2009.