00:00I gather you've just returned from Afghanistan, and I'd like to start by asking you how you would describe the
00:07overall humanitarian situation there.
00:09Well, let me start by saying that I was really shocked by the malnutrition crisis that we are seeing.
00:15We have seen an unprecedented surge in cases of malnutrition.
00:19Almost five million women and young children are now suffering from malnutrition,
00:23and we by far don't have the resources and the capacity to respond to that.
00:28I was in Jalalabad at one of the health centers.
00:31Hundreds of women lined up, and they were turned away, moving away with nothing,
00:36having spent hours going there with children who are basically dying of malnutrition.
00:41Secondly, I mean, the country has gone through crisis after crisis.
00:45It's earthquakes, floods, deep cuts in foreign aid, and now, of course, the shockwaves from the Middle East and the
00:53conflict with Pakistan.
00:54And so it is really a country that is struggling.
00:57And third, then, they have seen massive returns.
01:01Last year alone, 2.5 million people returned from Iran, from Pakistan, and this year already 500,000.
01:08I was at the border.
01:10You know, there are about 1,000 people that continue to arrive every day at that border.
01:15They arrive with absolutely nothing, and they, of course, arrive then in a country that is already on its knees
01:22economically.
01:22So it's a very complex crisis, but certainly not getting the attention or the support that it deserves.
Comments