30 April 2008
Complications in Afghanistan
Posted by Joy Bischoff under: World Affairs .
More evidence of the failure of globalism as Pakistan bans exports to protect its own people. The Afghans depend on that wheat and the protests have already started. Ultimately, it will depend on America to solve their crisis if we hope to maintain any stability in that country.
Afghans struggle as food prices soar
A severe food crisis in Afghanistan – caused by rising wheat prices – threatens to further destabilise an already deeply troubled country, writes the BBC’s Alastair Leithead in Kabul.
Big protests
Kabul’s flour market, where truck loads of imported wheat flour are unloaded and stored in warehouses, is practically deserted in comparison to just a few weeks ago.
Isolated and landlocked, Afghanistan depends on Pakistan for its wheat
“Normally we would have 100 to 150 lorries full of flour arriving every day,” said shopkeeper Mohammad Asif.
“Right now there aren’t even five or 10 lorries coming. Look how few people there are at the market.”
He described how the price of a 50kg bag of flour had gone from 700 Afghanis ($14) at the start of the year, to 1,250 Afghanis ($26) four weeks ago, and how this week it passed 2,500 Afghanis ($50) for the first time.
A month’s supply of wheat for an average Afghan family now costs the same as the total monthly wage of most civil servants…
“Pakistan grows more than it needs, but right now the government has put an export ban on their wheat due to rising prices at home and a shortage of wheat available in the markets of Pakistan,” said Tony Banbury, the Asia regional director for the UN World Food Programme (WFP).
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13 Comments so far...
Joy Bischoff Says:
30 April 2008 at 12:29 am.
I am concerned about the complications we will have as a country to be responsible for feeding the Afghanis, Iraqis, many other poor countries, and our own nation. This is a wrinkle I don’t think we saw coming and could bring about severe challenges.
Tonight when Roy went to COSTCO, they were out of rice. We still don’t have it as bad as most countries so we should be thankful and appreciate our blessings.
Jesse Says:
30 April 2008 at 1:56 am.
Joy, I hate to disagree with you but I disagree with you. You keep saying things aren’t that bad yet here. Millions of people are losing homes, millions can’t make ends meet with gas and food so high and it is only going to go higher. It is hurting Americans now. The following article shows how painful it is getting some many families.
Americans unload prized belongings to make ends meet
NEW YORK – The for-sale listings on the online hub Craigslist come with plaintive notices, like the one from the teenager in Georgia who said her mother lost her job and pleaded, “Please buy anything you can to help out.”
Or the seller in Milwaukee who wrote in one post of needing to pay bills — and put a diamond engagement ring up for bids to do it.
Struggling with mounting debt and rising prices, faced with the toughest economic times since the early 1990s, Americans are selling prized possessions online and at flea markets at alarming rates.
To meet higher gas, food and prescription drug bills, they are selling off grandmother’s dishes and their own belongings. Some of the household purging has been extremely painful — families forced to part with heirlooms.
“This is not about downsizing. It’s about needing gas money,” said Nancy Baughman, founder of eBizAuctions, an online auction service she runs out of her garage in Raleigh, N.C. One former affluent customer is now unemployed and had to unload Hermes leather jackets and Versace jeans and silk shirts.
At Craigslist, which has become a kind of online flea market for the world, the number of for-sale listings has soared 70 percent since last July. In March, the number of listings more than doubled to almost 15 million from the year-ago period.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080429/ap_on_bi_ge/cashing_out_the_attic
Matt Says:
30 April 2008 at 9:34 am.
depressing
Sid Says:
30 April 2008 at 11:41 am.
Does anyone know if we have an exit strategy for Afghanistan?
E.E. Says:
30 April 2008 at 11:57 am.
I don’t think we can exit Afghanistan. The Taliban is already resurging so if we left they would take over and we would have accomplished nothing.
E.E. Says:
30 April 2008 at 12:52 pm.
Sadly, this is why we can’t leave Afghanistan.
Report: Afghan al-Qaeda stronger
WASHINGTON (AP) — Al-Qaeda has rebuilt some of its pre-Sept. 11 capabilities from remote hiding places in Pakistan, and terrorist attacks in neighboring Afghanistan increased 16% last year, the Bush administration said Wednesday.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-04-30-statedept-terrorism_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip
Nalvy Says:
30 April 2008 at 12:56 pm.
If we leave now during this food crisis it could possibly be seen as abandoning Afghanistan to fend for itself… not something I personally want for either country.
I was talking to Joy the other day and I shared with her a thought I had and now I am going to share it with you.
and I ask no one make fun because I LOVE this story and it is good advice.
Okay so in Lord of the Rings the Hobbits were used to eat about seven or more meals a day and when they went on their adventure they started to have to tighten their belts due to lack of food. They sometimes never knew when they were going to eat next but still they pushed on and just kept tightening their belts. If they can do it so can we.
I am not saying we have to go completely without food (sadly for some people it may be the case) but if we are wise enough to build up our food storage and when the time comes that we have to rely on it, we may have to ration it all out and keep tightening out own belts. It doesnt sound very good I know, but it is the truth.
At least we would all be able to reach our weight goals eh?
Jeezer Says:
30 April 2008 at 1:13 pm.
Oh crap. Even over the computer you can tell I need to lose weight. I’m depressed.
Hank Says:
30 April 2008 at 1:34 pm.
I can’t lose my love handles. I keep them so my wife feels better.
SGS Says:
30 April 2008 at 6:02 pm.
By the way, I saw in an article in a newspaper while waiting that Bush just had 200 millions dollars added to our foreign aid programs to cover the shortage. It’s so nice of him to throw money at something without actually doing something about it! Sorry I don’t have the link.
M.G. Says:
30 April 2008 at 7:35 pm.
The world will expect us to take care of them and we can’t do that if things stay like this. If we try we are going to be in big trouble here. Most other countries are not allowing exports for basic food like rice and wheat because they want to take care of their own people. But we are expected to take care of everything. It’s crazy and it won’t work for much longer.
Cavetrollhead Says:
30 April 2008 at 9:20 pm.
I may be becoming an isolationist. Just because it wasn’t a good idea pre-WW II doesn’t mean it isn’t one now. I think our example might be more useful than our “help”
Ghost Says:
30 April 2008 at 10:03 pm.
I think we should get back to what the founders said. Tariffs to protect our business and farmers and stay out of entangling treaties.
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