“Lawlessness along the road forced us to all but stop moving along this route to the west, as convoys were being attacked by various groups. We’re now getting some Afghanistan national police help in escorting convoys, [but] we’ve been careful not to affiliate ourselves with international military organizations,” he added. “However, we alert ISAF [International Security Assistance Force] of major convoys, which then increases their watch on the convoy’s route.” But the food crisis appears to be playing a somewhat more limited role in Afghanistan’s overall security situation. The Taliban is still trying to overthrow President Karzai — as evidenced by the near-miss assassination attempt in late April — but they don’t seem to be using food as a vehicle in their campaign. “In terms of the Taliban using the crisis to win hearts and minds, we have seen nothing of the sort,” Corsino said. “Insurgents tend to not want to be associated with taking food from communities, [whom] we work with to coordinate relief efforts. Sometimes food taken by insurgents is won back when communities that know what happened and who did it approach the culprits.” In fact, the crisis may have unexpected benefits on the security situation. That’s because some poppy farmers are turning toward the production of legal crops as food prices have skyrocketed and opium prices have bottomed out. “In the past, poppy cultivation has brought seven times or greater return for farmers than wheat production, but the increase in wheat prices may be providing a greater incentive for some farmers to switch to legal crops,” Corsino noted. The Financial Times reported in April that the country’s opium crop may even decrease by up to 50 percent from last year’s record crop of 8,200 tons. However, higher food prices may conversely encourage more poppy production, as Afghans look to the country’s undisputed cash crop to feed their families. Poppy harvesting could be one of many measures that desperate families resort to in response to the food crisis, which “has created the classic coping issues that you see elsewhere when people are dealing with food shortages,” Corsino said. “People are sacrificing discretionary expenditures for school and medical care to help ensure they have enough food. We are seeing farmers sell or eat assets like their crop seed and livestock. We are also seeing some internal displacement, but there has actually been some inflow of Afghanis from Iran and Pakistan despite the food crisis.” Afghanistan relies heavily on neighboring Pakistan for its wheat supply, which is also a major reason for the rise in prices. “Over 70 percent of food products imported into Afghanistan come from Pakistan, where prices for wheat are controlled by the government, [which] also banned the export of wheat earlier this year,” Corsino explained. “As a result, wheat sells at below world rates in Pakistan, leading to, amongst other things, smuggling of wheat into Afghanistan, where it can be sold for higher prices after traders have exacted considerable premiums.” But the average Afghan sees none of this benefit. “We were in a community outside of Kandahar recently and met with several families. One man said their diet is now basically just bread and buttermilk. They get meat just once a month and vegetables from time to time,” Corsino recalled. “Staples such as cooking oil are up about 100 percent in the last 18 months. At the same time, there has not been corresponding increase in income for the population, so 2.5 million Afghans that had been on the borderline of food insecurity have been pushed into food insecurity.” Mark Hilpert is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

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