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Floods in Pakistan threaten Afghanistan’s food supply: UN
The devastating floods in Pakistan will place huge strains on efforts to get food into neighboring Afghanistan to relieve its catastrophic humanitarian crisis, the United Nations warned on Friday.
The UN’s World Food Programme said much of the food aid transited through Pakistan by road — a network that has been severely affected by the worst floods in the country’s history.
“We’re focused absolutely on the needs of the people in Pakistan right now but the ramifications of what we’re experiencing here go wider,” WFP’s Pakistan country director Chris Kaye said.
“We’re becoming very, very concerned about the overall food security, not only in Pakistan in the immediate and medium term, but also for what it’s going to imply for the operations in Afghanistan.
Large amounts of its food enter via the port of Karachi. “Pakistan provides a vital supply route into Afghanistan,” he said.
“With roads that have been washed away, that presents us with a major logistical challenge,” Kaye said.
“WFP has procured over 320,000 metric tonnes in the past year to support operations in Afghanistan. The floods in Pakistan are going to put a huge dent in that capability.”
He said there was a “major problem” in restoring agricultural production in Pakistan to feed its own people and continue supplying food to Afghanistan.
A further issue was that the wheat harvest was being stored in flooded areas of Pakistan, and “a large proportion of the wheat has been washed away.”
He said the food security situation in Pakistan was “grave” even before the floods, with 43 percent of people food insecure and the country ranking at 92 out of 116 on the Global Hunger Index.
Monsoon rains have submerged a third of Pakistan, claiming more than a thousand lives since June and unleashing powerful floods that have washed away swathes of vital crops and damaged or destroyed more than a million homes.
Officials have blamed climate change, which is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather around the world.
Afghanistan’s 38 million people face a desperate humanitarian crisis — aggravated after billions of dollars in assets were frozen and foreign aid dried up when the Islamic Emirate took over a year ago.
The spokesperson of the Islamic Emirate, Zabihullah Mujahid, said that IEA forces have so far refrained from responding to Pakistan’s attacks on Kandahar in order to respect the negotiating team in Turkey and to prevent civilian casualties.
Mujahid added that while the third round of talks with the Pakistani side has begun in Istanbul, “unfortunately,” Pakistani forces this afternoon once again opened fire on Spin Boldak district in Kandahar, causing concern among the local population.
According to Mujahid, during the previous round of negotiations, an agreement had been reached to extend the ceasefire and prevent any violations.
At least two civilians were killed and several others injured Thursday after Pakistani forces fired mortars into Afghanistan’s Spin Boldak district of Kandahar province, local sources told Ariana News.
The shelling reportedly hit the Wardak and Siet villages, killing one woman and one man, and injuring two others. Officials said ten additional people were hurt in a traffic accident as they fled the conflict zone.
Sources confirmed that the attack occurred around 5:00 p.m., when Pakistani troops opened fire on Afghan border forces using both light and heavy weapons in the Wesh area of Spin Boldak.
Residents said mortar rounds from across the border also struck commercial areas, prompting widespread panic and forcing many shopkeepers and civilians to flee to safer locations. “People were terrified; everyone ran from the markets,” one local resident said.
Local security officials reported that the fighting has since subsided and that Afghan border forces remain on alert, ready to respond to any renewed aggression.
The clashes mark another escalation along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, an area that has seen repeated cross-border attacks in recent months.
Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani has expressed hope that Afghanistan and Pakistan will peacefully resolve their current issues.
The remarks came during a meeting with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday, held on the sidelines of the Second World Summit for Social Development in the Qatari capital. The Emir said he hoped the two neighboring countries would “move beyond recent challenges,” referring to the recent clashes along the Durand Line, according to a statement released by the Pakistani president’s office.
Qatar is playing mediating role in talks between Kabul and Islamabad.
President Zardari appreciated Qatar’s role in hosting and facilitating the UN-led Doha Process meetings on Afghanistan, including the first and second rounds held in May 2023 and February 2024, which have supported international coordination on humanitarian, development and security issues.
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