The Taliban left the people of Afghanistan alone with natural disasters.
Author: Mohammad Abdullah, journalist, especially for “Sangar”
The Taliban have looted strategic supplies of humanitarian aid for disaster victims.
This group is preventing the delivery of aid and contributing to the increased loss of life caused by the recent floods in Afghanistan. They lack the will and plan to reduce risks and provide assistance to victims.
Although weather systems warned of the risk of heavy rain and flooding days before the incidents, the Taliban group did not take any emergency management action, particularly to reduce the risk of terrible floods and communicate about their occurrence.
Recent floods in several provinces of the country have claimed the lives of more than five hundred of our compatriots and left tens of thousands of people injured and homeless, who in the current situation are in serious need of help. Now that several days have passed since the flood, no assistance has been provided to the wounded, homeless, and flood victims, there has been no preparation or planning for assistance, and the main culprit and obstacle in this regard is the Taliban.
Reducing risks, alerting at-risk residents when accidents occur, preparing to deal with disasters, and providing assistance to victims of accidents are among the responsibilities and obligations of governments. However, the Taliban, who are an irresponsible group and have taken the people of Afghanistan hostage, have not only done nothing to combat natural disasters but continue to do nothing. Rather, they are looting warehouses intended for disaster relief and the delivery of humanitarian aid.
After occupying Kabul and seizing disaster relief facilities, members of this group looted all warehouses and strategic reserves of the Ministry of Disaster Management in Kabul and the provinces. Food, tents, clothing, cooking kits, first aid kits, and other support materials and supplies were stored in these warehouses. Everything was looted and taken away by the Taliban.
After the looting of property and materials from MDM warehouses, the head of this ministry, Mullah Abbas Akhund, transferred more than five hundred forty-foot containers in which food and non-food products were stored to Pakistan. Mullah Abbas Akhund has already invested in Pakistan and is the owner of a private hospital and several companies in this country. He has not been in Afghanistan for several months and, according to our information, is in Pakistan.
The Deputy Minister for Disaster Management of the Taliban Administration (Mullah Abdulwali Saranwal), who is not on good terms with Mullah Abbas Akhund, has been living in Ghazni province for a year and is not present in the relevant ministry.
Due to the Taliban's looting of strategic reserves and assets of the Ministry of Disaster Management and their irresponsibility towards the lives of citizens and government assets, institutions and agencies assisting victims of natural disasters are paralyzed.
The Taliban group does not have any special vision and professionalism to manage the crises caused by these incidents and does not have a plan, and even in the incidents caused by the recent floods, they not only had no desire to help but also prevented the provision and dispatch of assistance from neighboring countries.
Before the Taliban occupation of Kabul, institutions responsible for disaster management signed bilateral and multilateral protocols and cooperation documents with similar institutions in neighboring countries and the region. Neighboring countries have pledged to provide necessary assistance to those affected during such incidents. However, the Taliban did not want neighboring countries and signatories of the aforementioned memorandums to help victims of the recent floods.
The Ministry of Disaster Management's international partners and donors have monitored the looting of strategic reserves, the transfer of hundreds of the ministry's emergency containers to Pakistan, and the Taliban's lack of will and planning in dealing with natural disasters. The leaders of the Taliban group did not pay attention to the warnings of the mentioned institutions. International donors suspended cooperation with the Ministry of Disaster Management and even left Afghanistan.
Given the depth of the disaster, the number of casualties and severe damage caused by the recent floods, and the Taliban's hostility towards the surviving victims and wounded, cooperation and relief efforts in the short term and a crisis management plan in the long term are missing from the group's agenda. They have no desire to help the victims, and the people of Afghanistan will continue to be threatened by the elements predicted in the future (continued floods and droughts). And this means that new victims will follow.
