Millions face starvation in Afghanistan

A minimum of 6 million tonnes of wheat and other cereals are needed to feed the country's population, which has swollen to nearly 30 million after the return of refugees from Pakistan and Iran. Last year just 3.5 million tonnes of cereal were produced with the entire crop being lost in some areas. Over 1.5 million animals—some 10 percent of livestock—also died due to water shortages.

The problem of drought is vastly increased by the lack of water catchments and the backwardness of the country's irrigation systems. A study by the Afghan Ministry of Water and Energy estimated that 70 percent of available water was lost to evaporation or leakage as it flowed through crumbling, decades-old canals.

The US occupation has done nothing to address the problems. Instead, Afghan communities have sought to overcome the water shortages by tapping into underground basins. The Ministry of Water and Energy estimates that 50 percent of ground water has now been depleted.

The lack of irrigation has contributed to as much as four million hectares of potentially productive land not being cultivated. At some point during the last 30 years of war and political chaos, areas of land have simply been abandoned.

Read More