Musa Qala, Afghanistan: The Robel Clinic Ward in South Afghanistan is only one of the signs of the crisis of the Humanitarian Disaster that has gripped the State that was hit by war since the Taliban returned to power a year ago.
Last month, Musa Qala District Hospital in Helmand Province was forced to close the door to everyone except those who suffered alleged cholera.
Infirmary was immediately jammed with lethargic patients, intravenous drops required to their wrist when they recover to the rusty group.
Although the clinic does not have facilities to test cholera, around 550 patients appear in a few days, showing symptoms of disease caused by lack of basic sanitation needs: clean drinking water and adequate waste disposal system.
“This is very difficult,” the head of the Hospital Ehsanullah Rodi, ran for only five hours of sleep at night since the entry began, told AFP.
“We didn’t see this from last year, or one more year.”
The United Nations said the Afghan humanitarian crisis was the worst in the world.
Children who are hungry
Poverty in the country – feeling the sharpest in southern Afghanistan – has been pushed to a new level of despair, exacerbated by drought and inflation since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“Because the emirat (Taliban) is in power, we cannot even find cooking oil,” said a woman, perched in a hospital bed next to her malnourished grandchildren in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand Province.
“Poor people are pinched under their feet,” said the 35 -year -old man.
His grandchildren were treated for the fifth time at Boost Hospital, a labyrinth that was roasted by paint-coated buildings that were run jointly by the Ministry of Health and Unlimited Doctors (MSF).
Many beds in the Malnutrition ward are host two weak small patients – some breastfeeding dashing on the milk syringe, while others lifted heavy breaths as they struggled to regain their strength.
“We can’t even find dry bread,” said Brashna, the mother of another patient, who guessed her age between 15 and 20.
“We haven’t eaten anything in three or four days.”
Assistant Supervisor of Homera Nowrozi Care, struggling to be heard on a lamenting baby, said the staff “no rest”.
“We have many patients who come in critically,” he said, because parents were unable to travel faster.
“We don’t know how many deaths … we have in the district, because they don’t come to the hospital.”
Tangled morally
The fate of Afghanistan began long before August 15, 2021 when the Taliban captured the Kabul with the heel of withdrawal in a hurry of the troops led by the US and the collapse of the government they dopped.
But the takeover of the Taliban pushed the country – home to 38 million people – on a cliff.
The United States freezes $ 7 billion in the assets of the central bank, the formal banking sector collapses, and foreign assistance representing 45 percent of GDP stops overnight.
Over the past year, prospective donors have wrestled with a puzzle channeling fresh funds to a sick country, which was changed by the “Islamic Emirates” Taliban in line with their hard theocratic beliefs.
“How do you provide assistance in a country where you don’t recognize the government?” Roxanna Shapour asked from the Afghanistan Analyst Network.
Importing humanitarian assistance to overcome crisis such as the June-earthquake that killed more than 1,000 people and left tens of thousands of people who were more homeless-relatively homeless, he said, because “non-political, it was aid that saved lives”.
Cash is also flown to fund food assistance and health care, but development assistance for long -term projects that can change the economy more complex.
“If you enter and say, ‘I will pay all the teacher’s salary’, that is good. But what will the Taliban do with the money they save from not having to pay the teacher’s salary?” Shapour asked.
Sour mood
In Musa Qala – a dusty agricultural post with a shipping container bazaar managed by a children’s shopkeeper – the deprivation is seen.
Local economy seems almost non -living in the repair of motorbikes, pale birds of charge, and energy drink tubes remain warm in a dirty chest freezer.
The city witnessed some of the most bloody chapters from the 2001-2021 war, and connected to Lashkar Gah with an emergency route on the bottom of the river which was hardened with jagged stones.
The road starts again to the south in Sangin, the place where the mud -walled compound has been very severe by shots and artillery so that they are destroyed back to earth.
In cruel irony, despair and demand for humanitarian services only deeper with the arrival of peace.
“Now we can visit the hospital whether it’s day or night,” said Maimana, whose eight -year -old Asian daughter was treated at Musa Qala.
“Previously, there used to be battles and mines – the road was blocked.”
Public Health Director Helmand Sayed Ahmad told AFP that new patient floods mean there were “fewer space” and that “there were fewer staff, so there were difficulties”.
However, Ahmad-a doctor who has a soft voice whose office is filled with thick books “the overall situation is better” than under the previous government, when corruption is rife.
He blamed economic sanctions against the Taliban for some of their problems, saying “the needs and demands of people have increased”.
But analysts say Islamists are far from innocence.
“The repressive social policy of the Taliban has made it more difficult to reach an agreement about getting frozen assets opened,” said Graeme Smith of the International Crisis Group.
“This is really just about the emotions of policy makers -and closing millions of girls from secondary schools really worsened mood.”
Cannot rule
The Taliban flag now flew openly across the Helmand Province, at stake in buildings that were ridden by bullets.
But after reciting control for two decades, they ruled the nation at the most destroyed.
A man in Lashkar Gah – who asks not to be named – offers his own spicy comment about the ability of the Taliban to govern.