GLOBAL CONNECTIONS: the Near/Middle East
1998-2002: Years of severe drought create a food crisis in Afghanistan.

Crop and livestock losses threaten more than three million Afghans with starvation. A way of life is also in jeopardy: Eighty-five percent of the population of Afghanistan depends directly on agriculture for employment, but most households will soon be left without breeding stock or work animals. The current food shortage is compounded by two decades of civil instability.

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Farmers in Kandahar have lost crops and livestock due to severe drought. The World Food Program is trying to get food relief into the area, where hunger is widespread. (July 2000)

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The longest drought in decades is preventing farmers from growing or selling crops to pay for food. Hundreds of thousands of Afghan citizens have fled their rural villages in the hope of finding food or work in cities. (May 2001)