Impoverished Afghans looking beyond aid as winter approaches

Kabul, Nov 6 (IANS) As Afghanistan braces for another harsh winter amid sanctions and poverty, many poverty-stricken Afghans are looking forward to receiving humanitarian aid to prepare for the cold months ahead.

"People neither have wood nor fuel. Winter is closing in, and I have no wood to keep my children warm. I am in a desperate situation," said Abdul Manan, a resident of eastern Parwan province, who traveled about 80 km to receive humanitarian assistance.

Manan, the bread-earner of a 24-member family, said the assistance, which included a 50 kg bag of flour and a 25 kg bag of rice, could provide temporary relief.

Manan is a 40-year-old carpenter who earns 400 afghani (6 US dollars) a day, relying on a diet of naan (flatbread) and potatoes. "We only have naan and potatoes; there's nothing else on the dining table," he said.

"A bag of flour and a bag of rice is enough for a week for a 24-member family," said Manan with sorrow that he could not feed his family properly three times a day.

Meanwhile, Manan believes foreign aid is only a temporary fix, not the solution to poverty in Afghanistan. "If our government activates the factories and plants to create jobs, people can support themselves," he suggested.

Rizwanullah, another aid recipient, echoed this sentiment. "Reducing unemployment would be more helpful than aid. Assistance helps us survive, but it doesn't lift us out of hardship," he told Xinhua at an aid distribution site.

With winter looming, Rizwanullah's family also faces a shortage of fuel and warm clothing. Living in a 17-member family, he works alongside his younger brother. 27-year-old Rizwanullah can earn 250 afghani (3.7 dollars) while his brother earns 150 afghani (2.3 dollars) daily.

"The aid, which includes a bag of flour and a bag of rice, will last us about 10 to 12 days. It would serve us better to provide job opportunities," Rizwanullah said, Xinhua news agency reported.

Post-war Afghanistan has been suffering from poverty, unemployment, isolation, drought and sanctions that have crippled the banking system and undermined trade and economic activities.

To help needy families, the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority began distributing bags of flour and rice to 500 needy families in the country's national capital Kabul on Tuesday, Mullah Janan Saeq, spokesman of the authority, said.

"The aid, contributed by Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and China, is aimed at helping vulnerable families," Saeq told Xinhua, adding the distribution of the assistance to the destitute families would continue.

According to an August report from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, about 23.7 million people, almost half of Afghanistan's population, need humanitarian assistance in the current year, with 48 per cent of Afghans living under the poverty line.

--IANS

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