Eight Orphaned Afghan Children Die Of Starvation In Kabul As Taliban Leader Meets Chinese FM In Doha

Since the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan in August, locals saw a sharp rise in deaths due to starvation as the insurgents barely managed to bring stability to the war-torn country.

According to World In One News, the increasing poverty dramatically led to several minority communities and orphan children starving and in dire situations, dying from excessive hunger.

Recently, the social issue resulted in the death of eight children, all coming from the same family. Neighbors said the siblings, who starved to death in western Kabul, were orphans and struggled to put food on the table since the Taliban subjugated the country in August.

On top of their financial woes in Etefaq, the 13th district of Kabul in the Barchi plain, the eight siblings just lost their parents to illnesses, which they could not afford to be treated. Of the eight orphans, there were four boys and four girls. The oldest child was only 11-year-old and the youngest, barely three years old.

Mohammad Ali Bamiani, a religious scholar and a mosque orator, buried these children. He said that while some neighbors chip in to buy some bread for them, a small portion was not enough to keep eight children in good health and alive.

"When the landlord wanted to invite the children for morning tea, he saw that they were all dead," he said.

The head of the family recently died after suffering paralysis and a tumor in his head. Meanwhile, their mother, who had heart disease, succumbed to her illness just a few days later, unable to bear the loss of her husband.

According to the World Food Programme, 22.8 million people were facing acute food insecurity and “marching to starvation” since August, a figure now more than half of Afghanistan’s 39 million population. Two months ago, the data was at 14 million.

Even before the Taliban takeover, Afghanistan was already at the brink of collapse.

However, the newly installed caretaker government triggered the removal of aid from foreign nations amid disagreements on how they govern the land.

As the current Afghanistan leaders work to salvage the country from chaos to governance, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a meeting with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the acting deputy Prime Minister of the Afghan Taliban's interim government, in Doha, Qatar.

"Current political and economic situation in Afghanistan and the strong political and economic ties between the two countries were discussed during the meeting," Zabiullah Mujahid, the spokesperson for the Taliban, said in a statement.

China, which pledged $31 million worth of aid to Afghanistan last month, also called on the United States and the West to reconsider lifting sanctions in the wake of the humanitarian and food crises exacerbated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and climate change.