On Dec. 10, World Bank donors agreed to unfreeze $180 million from the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund for the United Nations’s World Food Program to counteract an emerging humanitarian crisis. The WFP says these funds will allow it to assist about 2.7 million Afghans, less than a third of the 8.7 million facing famine. Unfortunately, its reach may be further constrained and subject to bias due to WFP’s partners.
Sohrab, a former Afghan government official whose name has been changed to protect his identity, said a local leader distributed last month’s aid packages of flour to about 200 of the 2,000 impoverished Afghans he estimates live in his area of northern Kabul. Sohrab alleges recipients were determined based on the official’s relationships rather than families’ level of need.
Last week, when WFP monetary aid was dispersed in his locale, Sohrab noted that many recipients were well-dressed individuals with personal vehicles. “In these circumstances, [they] could be called rich,” explained Sohrab, who sold his car last month in order to feed his large family. Furthermore, he alleges Taliban members and local leaders were present at the distribution and that aid recipients “either had a relationship with a representative of [the] area or with the Taliban.”
WFP dispersal amounts have varied by locale. Sohrab said he saw families in northern Kabul receive 7,000 Afghani ($70), but he heard that families around Pul-e-Charkhi prison in eastern Kabul received 14,000 Afghani and that families in the Taliban’s Pashtun heartland in Lashkar Gah received 50,000 Afghani.
The Taliban’s Ministry of Refugees and Reparations corroborates accounts of disparities, with claims that 80 families in Sar-e Pol province received 14,000 Afghani, while in Nangarhar province, hundreds of families received just 60 Afghani. In both provinces, the Taliban boasts that aid was distributed in the presence of its officials.
A WFP official did not respond to questions about aid discrepancies, corruption allegations, dispersal mechanisms and personnel, or methods for determining locals’ needs. To allegations that some food aid has been spoiled or expired, the official responded that “the health and well-being of the people we serve is always WFP’s foremost concern.”
Regarding the theft of 3.68 tons of WFP flour in northern Badakhshan province by armed Taliban fighters, reported last week by the Daily Mail, the official avoided naming the Taliban as the culprit. Instead, the official noted the “incident happened several weeks ago and was resolved in a couple of days [and] no one was injured,” adding that all “flour has now been distributed to beneficiaries registered to receive WFP emergency food assistance.”
Lack of WFP transparency is problematic, particularly where aid involves operating with the Taliban, who yearn for legitimacy but are not trustworthy partners. Though Human Rights Watch stated on Nov. 30 that it possesses evidence of over 100 Taliban reprisals against Afghan government personnel in four provinces between Aug. 15 and Oct. 31, the Taliban continue to deny these activities. Since assuming power, the group has presented an enduring threat to women, activists, minorities, and former Afghan government personnel, groups that will undoubtedly need aid through the winter months.
On Dec. 6, the International Crisis Group reported that “hunger and destitution … seem poised to kill more Afghans than all the bombs and bullets of the past two decades.” For international aid to mitigate this threat, it must reach the neediest Afghans rather than the influence networks of those who hold power or Taliban affiliates. Additionally, aid groups must determine a means to assist at-risk Afghans who are not in a position to seek assistance while the Taliban prey upon the populace with impunity.
Beth Bailey (@BWBailey85) is a freelance writer from the Detroit area.
