Taliban could exploit Afghan hunger as drought hits crops

The spring rains failed in many parts of the country this year just as the government and international military forces are struggling with the bloodiest phase of Taliban violence since 2001.

Afghanistan's harvest of rain-fed wheat is about half what it was last year and up to 2.4 million more Afghans are facing hunger as a result, agriculture and aid officials said.

Afghanistan had been expecting a cereals deficit of 500,000 tonnes this year but the shortfall has more than doubled.

"There is a deficit of 1.2 million tonnes this year regarding the cereal crop," an Agriculture Ministry official said on Sunday.

"The weather has hit 50 to 70 percent of the rain-fed crop," said the official, who declined to be identified.

Overall wheat production is expected to be 3.71 million tonnes this year compared with 4.27 million tonnes last year, he said. The rain-fed harvest is usually 1.6 million tonnes but is expected to be only 800,000 tonnes.

Afghanistan saw several years of serious drought up to 2005. Now villagers in parts of the country are saying "the drought is back and the Taliban are back," another official said.

Poverty is already a factor contributing to the revitalised Taliban and hunger is bound to compound the problem.

"It's very serious ... they can make use of it," the ministry official said of the Taliban.

The insurgency means aid agencies cannot reach parts of the south and east where the Taliban have infiltrated and are looking for support.

"There are many villages where, because development agencies can't operate normally in conditions of insurgency, people don't have enough to eat," a diplomat said.

"If the Taliban arrive with a little cash, that can be enough to induce people to join."

The UN World Food Programme says there were already about 6.5 million Afghans facing hunger, either seasonally or long-term. The drought has added another 2.4 million people.