In a BBC News report this morning, John Simpson said that he was witnessing the death of the Afghan nation. Already dependent on outside aid, which has been frozen, drought in an agricultural province of Afghanistan has made its inhabitants survive only on handouts.
Now Sir David Richards, the former commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, has called for the Taliban government in Kabul to be recognised in order for funds to be released and a humanitarian tragedy to be averted. The trouble is that the Taliban, although a creation of the security services of US-aided Pakistan, is still regarded as a terrorist organisation by the US which dominates the world of international banking. One cannot escape the feeling that the States' attitude is coloured by resentment that the government in Kabul which she supported was so easily swept aside. But surely the test of recognition should be whether a government has the support of the people? The Taliban clearly has recognition - albeit grudging in some cases - of the majority of provincial governors. It is also unlikely that the majority of Afghans would want to go back to the corruption, affecting every level of society, of the previous administration.
The Taliban does not pose an international threat. Da'esh/ISIS, which does, is active in Afghanistan and it would surely help the West if it were put down in that country.
The West needs further proof that the Taliban government means its warm words, that it is not the Taliban of old. In particular, allowing the female judges now in hiding in fear of their lives to emigrate to a safe nation would be a start. But surely the US must swallow her pride and recognise the facts on the ground rather than be responsible for what would effectively be a genocide by starvation.
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