Afghanistan is facing an immense humanitarian crisis. Because of four years of drought, decades of war, the destruction of irrigation systems and the mining of large areas of agricultural land by the Soviet army, the country cannot feed itself. Millions of Afghans already rely on the United Nations World Food Program to survive. Things are only growing worse, as people try to flee the country before the US attacks the Taliban, and neighboring countries, normally sources of food, seal their borders. The UN is asking for $584 million in food aid, to stave off immediate famine for an estimated 7.5 million people, mostly women and children, over the next sixth months. (If that doesn't sound like a lot to you, consider: that's 40,000 people dying per day, or over 1600 people dying each hour, on average.) In addition to hunger and the ordinary, deadly diseases of poverty and displacement, there are now reports of hemorrhagic fevers breaking out in the refugee camps. The United States initially allocated only $4 million towards this effort, now (Oct. 4) raised to $295 million. Surely, when we are currently (and rightly) spending tens of billions of dollars on all aspects of the crisis, we can afford to pay for the entire effort, and more besides.
The Afghan people allied themselves with us in the struggle against Soviet aggression. Over a million of them died in that war; at least five million more were driven from their homes as refugees; their infrastructure, government, society and even culture were destroyed. To save them now from starvation is the least that we owe them, and there can hardly be a more convincing way to show that we know they are not our enemies. We are asking everyone to write to their Representatives and Senators, urging them to support full US funding for the UN relief efforts in Afghanistan. Additionally, if any of you are in a position to donate to the effort, we urge you to do so.
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Signed By:
Cosma Shalizi
Kristina Klinkner
John Burke
J. Doyne Farmer
Olivia Posner
Robert Haslinger
D. Eric Smith
Cristopher Moore
Joleen Frank
David Feldman
Thomas Kepler
Homayoun Bagheri-Chaichian
Mary Elizabeth Hughes
Lisa Rodelo
D. A. Clarke
Marcus G. Daniels
Rachel Loden
Annie Finch
Nora Marchiando
Leah Burns
John Pepper
Hadrian Klinkner
Jacob Crymers
Alex Lancaster
Benito Franqui
Lauren Ancel
David Wolpert
Marti Stites
Silvio Meira
Jon Fetter
Chris O'Dell
Dowman Varn
Jan
Visser
Danny Yee
To have your name (and webpage) added to this list, send mail
Made by Cosma Shalizi, 30 September 2001
Last changed 21 October 2001
Note: The photo at the top of this page was taken by Steve McCurry of a young woman who was an Afghan refugee in the 1980s.