Is President Joe Biden killing a million children in Afghanistan? No, certainly not directly, but he and varied other officials set the stage in the overly quick, careless, incompetent U.S. withdrawal that put the Taliban in charge of the place.
The Taliban's political leaders and terrorist troops then put poverty in charge of the people while also scrapping public services, according to Antonio Guterres, secretary general of the United Nations. The consequences? There is precious little food, terrible malnutrition and the possible starvation deaths of millions, including those million children.
A drought in farm country played a role in this development, as did the previous corrupt government, we are told. But the Taliban is the key player that shows disregard for humanity every direction it looks, as in beating up people in Kabul for not wearing Taliban-approved clothing. They flogged a woman in the street for talking to a man. Women were becoming free at last under the previous regime but will now be denied any education or possibly even health care and be confined to their homes.
Protesters of such tyranny have confronted gunfire as a counter-argument, and people are terribly scared, as was dramatically demonstrated by those lethally clinging to the outside of airplanes to escape. It's dangerous out there, few have cash and businesses are closing. The biggest job is finding one. Prices are unpayable, homelessness is rampant, cross-border trade has gone poof and farms are dust we learn in a New York Times story on the situation.
The United Nations is trying to collect billions for humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan. The U.S. ambassador to the U.N. has promised $64 million. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida recently said Taliban leaders in the past stole aid meant for charitable uses and he did not want to hand them money for foul deeds while having less for our own people in need. The Times reported on donors being wary of "brutality" and "human rights abuses." The aim, however, is for the United Nations to be handling the humanitarian assistance, not the Taliban.
There are other aid issues, as in giving the Taliban help if it releases American hostages, something known as ransom, but there are ways both can happen without it being ransom. Shouldn't we demand to get weapons back we essentially allowed the Taliban to take? They were pretty much made harmless, a military spokesman has said.
Partly because the United States shares responsibility for the starvation crisis, but also because we should be a humane, caring nation that reaches beyond itself in this world, we should continue to work to save these lives, millions of lives, as a meaningful national goal.