Freshta Jalalzai
The ongoing freeze on U.S. foreign aid is impacting the globe, but its ramifications are different in each specific location. In Afghanistan, the United States is not merely withholding assistance; it is deepening a humanitarian catastrophe and punishing civilians for political decisions beyond their control. If history has taught us anything, it is this: abandoning Afghanistan does not foster stability – it entrenches suffering and fuels crises that inevitably spill beyond its borders.
The Taliban, insulated by mineral wealth, taxation, and regional trade, will endure. It is ordinary Afghans – the hungry, the sick, the desperate – who bear the full weight of these decisions. They are the ones selling their last possessions, rationing their final scraps of food, and watching their children waste away while the world debates policies from a comfortable distance.
Afghanistan’s tragedy is not new; it is a cycle the world refuses to break.
Each time I stand before the shelves of a bakery, the scent of fresh loaves, the dusting of flour, and the quiet patience of those waiting in line transport me back to Kabul – to the bitter years of the first Taliban regime (1996-2001). Back then, hunger was not just a fear but a certainty.
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