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Last Saturdays terror attack on Kabuls Karte Parwan Gurdwara that killed three people including an Afghan Sikh shows again Taliban is not in full control. IS claimed credit for the attack. Ten months after Taliban takeover, the Afghan economy has gone into a tailspin, hunger is acute, womens rights are disappearing. And attacks like the latest makes many Afghan nationals, as well as a few remaining Indians, desperate to fly out to India.

Following Talibans takeover, GoI instituted an e-emergency visa category for Afghan nationals wanting to travel to India. But these visa applications are backed up with only around 200 being cleared till last December. True, GoI yesterday cleared over 100 e-emergency visas for Afghan Sikhs and Hindus, a day after the gurdwara attack. But such selective clearance of visas is poor policy. Indian efforts over the last two decades created considerable goodwill among the Afghan people. Squandering that now will only work to the advantage of Pakistan and China.

Another problem is the lack of flights between India and Afghanistan, making it extremely difficult for those who want to get out. Afghanistans airspace was shut for non-defence flights to, from and over the country starting August 16 last year. True, there have been some special evacuation fights like the recent one on June 15. But these are simply not enough. With India now officially engaging Taliban, GoI must clear more flights between the two countries, starting with Afghan carriers. Simultaneously, it must expedite e-emergency and medical visas for Afghan nationals, as well as student visas for Afghan students accepted by Indian universities. This is an easy way for India to retain its strategic interests in Afghanistan.

This piece appeared as an editorial opinion in the print edition of The Times of India.

END OF ARTICLE

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Fly them out: Latest Kabul attack adds to desperation of those who want to leave Afghanistan. GoI must help - Times of India

People in Afghanistan are offering to sell their organs to make enough money to survive, as the cost of living crisis plunges the country into deeper poverty.

Christian Aid warned that rocketing fuel and food prices were forcing families to make desperate decisions and may soon begin to sell their children.

One cannot imagine the situation of poor families. People are openly offering to sell their body parts to manage the price hike, said the charitys Afghanistan country manager Subrata De.

Very soon Afghanistan will experience another round of an extreme humanitarian situation where families will be forced to sell their children.

Aid workers in Herat found that the cost of a 16L oil pack has risen from 3000 Afghani (27) to 4300 Afghani (39) in just one week.

The size of bread in Herat bakeries has also reduced significantly after flour prices doubled in the last month.

Other living costs have been on the rise since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August, which destabilised the country and caused mass job losses.

International aid to Afghanistan, including from the UK, has also been slashed or diverted away from government-controlled programmes.

The cost of public transport has risen from 10 Afghani or 20 Afghani (less than a penny) per journey to between 30 and 50, Christian Aid reports, while the price of a 50kg sack of wheat flour has risen from 2,000 Afghani (18) to 3,500 (32).

But in a new report seen by i, Christian Aid also warned that soaring costs were leaving aid agencies struggling to meet the growing demand.

Ray Hasan, Head of Asia, Middle East, Latin America, Caribbean and Global Programmes said that the cost of living crisis was having serious impacts on our work.

The food we distribute is more expensive now and sometimes we have to cut back on certain items like oil so that we can help more people with the basics. Cash distributions are less meaningful than they used to be, he told i.

The cost of our supplies is going up. We are identifying those that are most in need but the numbers are growing rapidly as more and more people are struggling to get enough food to eat.

The global hunger crisis has been partly driven by the war in Ukraine, which has disrupted essential food supplies from both Ukraine and Russia.

Both countries are large-scale producers of wheat and oil; prior to the war, Ukraine exported an average of 6 million tons of grain and oilseed a month, falling to just 200,000 in March.

And the shortages are hitting some of the worlds poorest countries.

Russia and Ukraine account for 100 per cent of Somalia and Benins wheat imports, and more than 90 per cent in Laos, according to the Christian Aid report.

They also constitute more than 80 per cent of Egypts wheat imports and 75 per cent of Sudans, as well as 95 per cent of sunflower imports to China and India.

But the crisis had been unfolding before the renewed conflict in Ukraine, largely as a result of repeated and severe droughts in countries including Ethiopia.

In the Dawa zone of the Somali region, admission rates for malnutrition at Save the Children nutrition centres increased by more than 320 per cent from September 2021 to January 2022.

Items the charity distributes in Afghanistan, such as flour, vegetable oil, soya, sugar, soap and shampoo have become much more expensive, head of humanitarian Michael Mosselmans said.

We are therefore buyingfewer, and more people are at risk without our support.

And it is a picture the agency is seeing beyond Afghanistan.

The situation is also worsening in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the $14 a month that was previously given to families to help them buy food can no longer cover the same number of supplies.

In Zimbabwe, food prices in May were 154.6 per cent higher than the previous year, with year-on-year inflation at 131.7 per cent.

Christian Aid workers in Burundi reported cities and rural areas running out of fuel, causing tensions in local communities and preventing farmers from taking their goods to market.

But despite the scale of the problem, Christian Aid are concerned that the crisis is not receiving enough international attention or action.

The alarms are sounding, and urgent action is needed now, wrote Mr Mosselmans. This is a point reinforced by polling we commissioned which showed only 23 per cent of those the British public are aware of the crisis in the Horn of Africa, compared to 91 per cent for the war in Ukraine.

The charity is calling for an urgent shift towards a more sustainable food system in which countries are less dependent on imported goods and on fossil fuels.

It urged the UK Government to accelerate its path to net zero, push all G7 countries to uphold their famine commitments, and to raise its aid commitment back to 0.7 per cent of gross national income, in addition to its Ukraine aid.

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Afghans offer to sell their organs for money as inflation soars, charity warns - iNews

According to local sources, Nematullah Wali, a university instructor in Nangarhar, aprovince in eastern Afghanistan, was stabbed to death in the city of Jalalabad by armed robbers.

Professor Nematullah Waliwas attacked last week when he wascaught in a confrontationwith therobbers who first took the professorsphone and money by force, and then stabbed himin Jalalabads fourth district, according to sources.

The health provincial officials reported that his condition was critical as he was taken to the hospital.

However, the professors brother said that his brother, professor Nematullah Wali has died this morning, 19th June, in the hospital.

After professors phone and cash was taken, the robbers were said to have escaped the crime scene and have not yet been arrested by the Taliban security officials.

The provincial security officials of the Taliban have not yet responded to the incident.

Professor Nematullah Walis demise comes at a time when Afghanistan faces a brain drain situation, which according to the experts, affect the Talibans ability to rule in the country.

Target killings, and criminal acts rate have soared in Afghanistan parallel to the upsurge in unemployment, hunger and poverty.

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Armed Robbers Kill a University Lecturer in Eastern Afghanistan - The Khaama Press News Agency - The Khaama Press News Agency

CAMP PENDLETON

They began arriving at the crack of dawn. Marine Corps veterans, Gold Star families, active duty Marines and a film crew mingled in anticipation for what lay ahead as the sun rose behind the clouds of the Pacific marine layer at Camp Pendleton.

Some bore the effects of battle on their bodies scars and missing limbs. For others, including the families of those killed, the scars were less visible.

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Looming above them was 1st Sergeants Hill, a steep climb from the valley floor where they stood, on the military bases northern boundary. Theyd gathered for a reunion, and to present todays 1st Battalion, 5th Marines with a chainsaw-carved memorial to honor brethren from another era, lost to Afghanistans Sangin Valley more than a decade ago.

The painted wooden carving stands about 3 feet tall and depicts a traditional battlefield cross a rifle posed vertically out of a pair of combat boots, topped with a battle helmet. The battlefield cross is often all that deployed troops have to memorialize their fallen comrades.

But before the carving could be presented to the battalion, there was one more thing to do carry it up 1st Sergeants Hill.

Marines for years have carried boulders and sandbags up the steep grade, not only to make the difficult hike even harder, but also to recognize the sacrifices of those who are memorialized at the top.

The carving would take the same journey. It is one of 72 done by 1/5 veteran Anthony Marquez, whose path since leaving the Marine Corps led to Mondays reunion of survivors of Sangin.

Former Lance Cpl. Cody Elliott, third from left, hikes up 1st Sergeants Hill on Camp Pendleton with the encouragement of Amos Angoy-Johnson, second from left, and Brett Tate, right, all current or former members of the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines.

(John Gastaldo/For The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Located in the northern Helmand province of Afghanistan, Sangin was one of the deadliest regions for allied troops. Over the course of the war, almost 200 troops were killed there.

During the so-called surge of 2010, Marines from Camp Pendleton first bolstered, then replaced British forces in Sangin.

The casualty numbers were staggering. Twenty-five Camp Pendleton-based Darkhorse Marines of 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines were killed and 200 were wounded during their deployment to the area. When 1/5 replaced them in March 2011, they faced the same conditions that made 3/5s deployment so bloody poor roads and trails laden with buried improvised explosive devices, entrenched Taliban fighters, and dangerous, single-file foot patrols.

Seventeen 1/5 Marines were killed during that seven-month deployment. More than 160 were wounded.

Marquez, a corporal at the time, served as a dog-handler. He and his bomb-sniffing dog, Allie, helped detect the IEDs that made Sangin so costly for allied forces.

The decision to sculpt battlefield crosses for the Marines lost in Sangin came in 2016 after the mother of one of those killed attempted suicide, Marquez told the Union-Tribune in an interview. After delivering a carving to her, he decided it wasnt enough.

I couldnt just do it for her I had to do it for all 17 families, Marquez said.

Cpl. Anthony Marquez and his military working dog, Allie, in Sangin, Afghanistan, in 2011. Marquez would later adopt Allie.

(Courtesy of Anthony Marquez)

The carving project led to another idea. Marquez, with his brother, filmmaker Manny Marquez, decided to revisit the families and 1/5 veterans and interview them for a documentary, self-funded via GoFundMe. The reunion, hike and delivery of the carving would serve as the projects finishing touch, Marquez said.

1st Sergeants Hill is already home to a cluster of homemade crosses hand-built by survivors. It memorializes West Coast infantry Marines not just those killed in battle including those from 1st Battalion, 4th Regiment killed in 2020s assault amphibious vehicle sinking and those killed in last years bombing of the Kabul, Afghanistan, airport.

The hilltop barely visible from the floor of the valley below is not an official memorial, Marine Corps officials said, but one more personal and intimate than those carved in stone and displayed in more prominent and accessible locations. Personal artifacts of those lost to war adorn the dozens of crosses shirts, hats, jackets, sunglasses, tobacco tins. Some bear a single name; others, many. All have unopened bottles and cans of beer and liquor.

When it came time to carry Marquezs carving up the hill, a group of currently serving 1/5 Marines stepped up to the task.

Retired Cpl. Cody Elliott, who uses a prosthetic leg due to injuries sustained in Sangin, completed the hike alongside them. Elliott was featured in a 2011 Union-Tribune photo at the memorial service at the base upon 1/5s return. The photo became symbolic of the sacrifices San Diego sailors and Marines made during the war.

Lance Cpl. Cody Elliott grabs the dog tags of fellow Lance Cpl. Nicholas S. OBrien, killed during a deployment to Sangin, Afghanistan, at the end of a memorial service at Camp Pendleton on Nov. 4, 2011.

(John Gastaldo/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Elliott gathered with other surviving members of his platoon around one of the simple wooden crosses already at the top one dedicated to the three Marines his platoon lost in Sangin: Lance Cpl. Joshua McDaniels, 23, Lance Cpl. Nicholas OBrien, 21, and Cpl. Michael Dutcher, 22.

The survivors traded stories of their lost comrades.

Theres a lot of names up here, a lot of buddies of ours that gave that sacrifice over there, but these were just some guys that we were pretty close to, Elliott told the Union-Tribune. They impacted the whole platoon.

On June 12, 2011, when McDaniels was mortally wounded by an IED, Elliott ran to assist, and a second IED exploded, injuring him.

Felix Farias holds a memorial marker with his sons name on it at the top of 1st Sergeants Hill at Camp Pendleton along with two others who died on a 1st Battalion, 5th Marines deployment to Sangin, Afghanistan, in 2011.

(John Gastaldo/For The San Diego Union-Tribune)

I was hit by a secondary device that left me ... pretty bloody, broken and bruised, he said. But Im here today to live to tell the story and suffer in pain up this beautiful mountain for their legacy.

For Elliott, who traveled from his home in Brazil to participate, it was important that these Marines are not forgotten.

Elliott said he went through some difficult times with post-traumatic stress disorder after leaving the Marines but found renewed passion for life when he started rock-climbing around San Diego. He decided to live well in honor of those who didnt make it home.

Im encouraged to live in their name and let these guys be my guiding source in life, Elliott said. They took a step that could have been (any of the survivors).

He started working in financial services and moved to Brazil, where his wifes family lives, about four years ago when she became pregnant.

Former Marine Lance Cpl. Cody Elliott, left, shares a moment with Marine Brig. Gen. Thomas Savage, who was a lieutenant colonel during their deployment to Sangin, Afghanistan in 2011.

(John Gastaldo/For The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Nirmal Singhs son, Cpl. Gurpeet Singh, 21, was among nine 1/5 Marines killed in action that June. Singh , who lives in Sacramento, said he was surprised when his son volunteered for that tour in Afghanistan, his second in the Marines. Singh said he thought his son was getting out, but he wanted to go to look out for the junior Marines in his unit.

Everybody was worried when they left because they know that theres a very bad situation over there, said Singh.

Once there, his son had a close call when he was shot in his body armor and uninjured, Singh said. But then, maybe 10 days later, his son was killed by a sniper.

Singh, who is Sikh, said the memorials atop the hill were outside his cultures customs. As is tradition in his religion, his son was cremated and they did not at first memorialize him. However, in 2021, Cpl. Gurpreet Singh became the first Sikh service member killed in Afghanistan to receive a headstone at Arlington National Cemetery.

1st Battalion, 5th Marine amputees stand near the summit in honor of their fellow service members who died in a deployment to Sangin, Afghanistan, in 2011.

(John Gastaldo / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Felix Farias and his wife, Penny Farias, traveled from their home in New Braunfels, Texas. Their son, Lance Cpl. John Farias, 20, was killed just days after Singh. It was their second visit to the memorial on 1st Sergeants Hill.

Although she lost her son more than a decade ago, Penny Farias said it does not feel like so long ago.

Its flown by so fast, like it should be yesterday were still waiting on him to come home, she said.

The documentary is not the only recent project focused on the unit and its time in Sangin. Several Marines offered their accounts of the battle and its aftermath in 2021s Third Squad podcast.

Manny Marquez, who is directing the documentary, said theres a good reason people come back to the story of Sangin to chronicle the war.

I think we were in the middle of that conflict smack dab in the middle and we didnt realize it, he said. The country was fatigued already from Iraq, so it became the forgotten war.

For 1/5, Sangin should rank among the other historic battles from both world wars in which the battalion fought, Manny Marquez said.

For Anthony Marquez, the veteran, its about remembering the 17 who did not come home.

One of the things the families all told me (was) theyre afraid theyll be forgotten, he said. They all said the same thing. The families are still here. They love being around Marines that served with their sons.

Navy Corpsman Brayden Benson, left, and wife Navy Corpsman Morgan Benson take a breather after summiting 1st Sergeants Hill. Nearby, Julianna Clemens kisses her husband, Marine Staff Sgt. Justin Clemens. Justin Clemens and Brayden Bensons father both saw action in Sangin in 2011.

(John Gastaldo/For The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Most of the stones, sandbags and mementos carried up 1st Sergeants Hill are left at the top, adding to the growing makeshift memorials.

This carving, however, came back down.

At the 5th Regiments official memorial nearby on base, Brig. Gen. Thomas Savage, the deputy director of operations at U.S. Africa Command, spoke at a ceremony for the survivors and Marines. Savage led 1/5 as a lieutenant colonel in 2011 and flew in to participate in the hike and ceremony. He said commanding 1/5 was the most important thing hes done in the Marines.

Savage told the families that after 11 years, the faces of those lost were still crystal-clear in his mind.

I think about your sons every day, he said.

Then, the carving was handed over to the regiment, its new home.

A wooden battlefield memorial cross stands atop 1st Sergeants Hill in honor of those killed in the 2011 battles in Afghanistans Sangin Valley.

(Andrew Dyer / The San Diego Union-Tribune)

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A solemn hike, a carving and closure. Marine survivors of Afghanistan's deadly Sangin Valley reunite - The San Diego Union-Tribune

Abdullah Hanif, alongside daughter Hadya as well as Jane Kennedy and Claire Prieur of the Newmarket Together Education Committee, show off a handmade quilt that will be part of an upcoming online auction fundraiser to help bring Hanifs brother and family to Canada from India. They are from Afghanistan, originally. June 13, 2022

Newmarket Together.

Its the community-minded motto behind efforts to bring to Newmarket an Afghan family who fled their homeland in the months leading up to the brutal Taliban regime regaining control of the country last year.

Samiullah Hanif, his wife, Brikhna, and their young children, Omar, Sahar, and Hera are in India but hope to join Samiullahs brother, Abdul Hanif, and his family in Newmarket.

The community is invited to help by participating in an online silent auction at Facebook.com/NewmarketTogether from June 24 to 26.

Residents can bid on dozens of items, from a night in a luxury hotel, Blue Jays tickets, Eagles Nest Golf Club passes and restaurant gift certificates, to sporting goods, tools, household items and gift baskets.

Because Samiullah and Brikhna arent able to work as refugees in India, money raised at the auction will allow Samiullah to put his time there to good use by taking courses to make him more job-ready when they arrive in Newmarket, auction organizer Jill Kellie said.

Samiullah studied economics in Afghanistan and earned his masters degree in business administration in India.

Any additional money raised through the auction will allow Samiullah to earn his chartered accountant credentials in Canada.

I was just thinking that the real story is how our investment now is going to reap such reward in the future. We have the ultra-generous and kind people of Newmarket giving now, we have Abdul volunteering while working two full-time jobs, while he and his beautiful wife manage family and home, Kellie said.

All while (they are) renovating their home in Newmarket to welcome another complete family of five that includes two hardworking adults and three young children.

While its difficult to know when his family will arrive in Canada, Abdul said the application process appears to be going well and discussions with a settlement worker he knows suggest they may be in Newmarket by the end of the year.

He remains in touch with his parents and sisters still in Afghanistan, which is isolated from the rest of the world and facing an uncertain future under the Taliban.

Millions of residents are struggling with severe poverty, malnutrition and lack of education for girls.

As his brother and family cope with some health concerns brought on by the extreme heat of India and lack of health coverage, Abdul said he, his brother and their families are grateful for support from the Newmarket community.

I see people with so much compassion in Newmarket, he said.

The response is very positive and it makes us see that the humanitarian part of our Newmarket is so commendable and people are so awesome to help. I appreciate, we all appreciate, this.

Claire Prieur and Jane Kennedy are two volunteers with Newmarket Together.

I think it is a way of doing something positive when so many in our world are facing the horrors of war and fanaticism. I know in the big picture it is not much but it is something, said Prieur, adding she has been touched by the dedication and commitment of Samiullah and Abdul and their families.

The support of our community and the donors adds to the sense of optimism. Without them we could not do this.

Prieur, Kennedy and other Newmarket Together volunteers have been involved in other humanitarian efforts over many years, including sponsoring Syrian and Vietnamese refugees, Terry Fox runs and the York Region Food Network.

Sometimes I am asked why I work so hard for this but, to be truthful, its not really work at all, Kennedy said.

Like the saying (goes), find a job you love and youll never have to work. I get to visit with my neighbours, spend time with a friend to go shopping, while helping with something that is really important and life-changing for a family which has been terrorized and uprooted from all they know. Tiring? Yes. Hard work? No way. What an opportunity for me to be part of this.

STORY BEHIND THE STORY: When reporter Lisa Queen learned of the Newmarket Together online auction, she thought it was chance to give an update on the community's efforts to bring an Afghan family to town.

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Newmarket Together: Community comes together to bring family who fled Afghanistan to brother in Newmarket - Toronto Star