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UN food agency alarmed by Afghan food, fuel prices

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An official with the U.N. food agency warned Friday that with Russia’s war in Ukraine taking an increasing toll on the global economy, the ripples of that conflict will further increase food and fuel prices in Afghanistan.

Currently, as many as 95% of the country’s 38 million people don’t have enough to eat or money to buy food, The Associated Press reported.

Shelley Thakral, a spokeswoman for the World Food Program, said that food prices in Afghanistan rose nearly 40% over the last eight months.

The WFP has spent $1 billion feeding millions of Afghans this year but needs another $1.6 billion, Thakral added.

“The worrying thing, I think and this includes Afghanistan as well as all the other hunger spots across the world, is the rise in food and fuel prices,” said Thakral.

So far, donor countries have not sidelined Afghanistan but she said they “have to dig deeper” as Europe deals with the shockwaves of the war and the 3.2 million refugees who have fled Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion on February 24.

Thakral’s remarks echoed those of U.N. refugee chief Filippo Grandi, who warned during a visit to Kabul on Tuesday that the war in Ukraine could siphon off money from humanitarian crisis elsewhere, including in Afghanistan, and that soaring food prices could cripple humanitarian efforts.

While most of Afghanistan’s wheat supplies come from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, Thakral said the increasing food and fuel cost as a result of the war could add up to 20% to the costs of providing humanitarian assistance, AP reported.

When the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) swept to power in August, international donor money, which paid more than 80% percent of Afghanistan’s bills, dried up and the country’s economy went into free fall.

There was food on Kabul markets on Friday but Masihullah, standing by his small grocery stall, said no one has money. Most people don’t have jobs, Masihullah said.

A sack of flour costs nearly $28 and most Afghans are now below the poverty line, which means they earn $1.90 a day or less, AP reported.

Thakral said 80% of Afghans are in debt because they have had to borrow to pay for food or medicines and even working Afghans look to the WFP for food aid because they don’t make enough to be able to afford the food on the market.

A Human Rights Watch report released Thursday said that since January, about 13,000 newborns have died from malnutrition and hunger-related diseases in Afghanistan and 3.5 million children need nutritional support.

“If the countries we import food from face a challenge, we face a challenge,” said Masihullah.

“There is war between Russia and Ukraine, so we are affected … there is a high increase in prices of oil and wheat.”

A U.K. pledging summit to be held later this month expects to raise $4.4 billion to stave off a worsening humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, said Thakral.

“Right now in Afghanistan, what we need to sustain is the attention on the people here,” she said.

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US food aid cut to worsen hunger in Afghanistan: WFP

The latest cut, according to the WFP, is amounting to “a death sentence for millions of people” if implemented.

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The new cutoffs in U.S. emergency food aid could worsen the already widespread hunger in Afghanistan, as the World Food Program (WFP) can only support half of the impoverished people with just half rations, warned the WFP on Saturday.

As part of its plan to reduce government deficits, Trump’s administration decided in January to freeze all foreign aid for three months, and more recently, to terminate its emergency food funding to the WFP.

The latest cut, according to the WFP, is amounting to “a death sentence for millions of people” if implemented.

Mutinta Chimuka, WFP’s acting country director, urged international donors to keep supporting Afghanistan, as the country is facing the world’s second-largest humanitarian crisis.

According to Chimuka, the agency can provide assistance to barely eight million people this year. Chimuka said that is an estimation based on its optimistic anticipation that “we get everything else that we are expecting from other donors”.

To stretch the limited resources, the WFP has been giving a half ration to the impoverished individuals, she added.

The WFP plans to provide food assistance to two million people to fight against hunger in the future months, but Chimuka expressed her worries given the limited funding.

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6.1-magnitude earthquake shakes northern Afghanistan

No reports of casualties or damage around the epicenter have as yet been reported.

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An earthquake measuring 6.1 magnitude occurred close to the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border region early Sunday morning.

The German Geosciences Research Center (GFZ) announced that the earthquake occurred at 8:54 am local time at a depth of about 237 kilometers.

No reports of casualties or damage around the epicenter have as yet been reported.

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No foreign body has right to interfere in our judicial system: Supreme Court Spokesman

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The spokesperson for the Supreme Court, Abdul Rahim Rashid, on Saturday issued a statement in response to remarks by the United Nations Human Rights Office, stating that no foreign authority has the right to interfere in the Sharia, religion, or judicial system of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA).

The UN Human Rights Office had earlier described the implementation of Qisas (retribution) against four individuals in the provinces of Badghis, Nimroz, and Farah as being contrary to human dignity.

According to the statement from the Supreme Court, the public execution of four individuals was carried out based on the clear rulings of Sharia, credible evidence, the confessions of the murderers, and to reform society, uphold justice, and prevent crimes.

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