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" What in the name of god are we doing over there? I&amp;#039;m not entirely sure that the Afghanis know what they&amp;#039;re doing over there. More than half of Afghan girls and boys suffer damage to their minds and bodies that cannot be undone because they are poorly nourished in the crucial first two years of life, doctors and other experts say. The finding raises serious questions about the legacy of more than 10 years of western involvement in Afghanistan. &amp;quot;After the age of two years, stunting is largely irreversible, and has an impact on growth and development and cognitive function,&amp;quot; says Carrie Morrison from the World Food Programme. &amp;quot;Over the longer term, it can have a very damaging effect on the national economy. Young people are not able to attain what they should be able to attain. Women who marry young and are stunted themselves give birth to a small infant and the cycle goes on.&amp;quot; Children who are not getting enough nutrients from their food suffer from what is known as chronic malnutrition. The problem afflicts poor countries worldwide, but in Afghanistan it is particularly widespread and persistent. A decade after the fall of the Taliban government, 55% of the country&amp;#039;s children are stunted because of inadequate food, Afghan government and UN data shows. Ah, the Great Game, beloved of the wretched, godless British Empire, and its fan base over here, who saw in the atrocities of September 11 an opportunity to get their Kipling on. The Great Game isn&amp;#039;t so great if you happen to get in its way and discover yourself to be a pawn. As foreign troops prepare to head home, violence is spreading and Afghanistan remains one of the world&amp;#039;s poorest countries, with low life expectancy and poor healthcare for mothers and young children. The malnutrition problem is caused by the basic poverty of those who cannot afford healthy food, as well as poor hygiene and healthcare, the tradition of child marriage, and a web of other issues. &amp;quot;We have whole families where food insecurity means they are all malnourished, but we [also] have rich families that have one child who is sick,&amp;quot; says Alam Mohammad, 25, a doctor who swapped the chance of an easy city practice to work in Feroz Nakhchair, on the gruelling frontline of a fight for the country&amp;#039;s future. There was the proxy war against the Soviets -- the one Tom Hanks played for Sorkinish chuckles in that movie -- and then we left. There was 9/11, and we came back. Afghanistan never was a country to our foreign policy brainiacs. It was a staging area, a movie set for some sound and fury and big boom-boom. And now a very poor place is poorer than it ever was, except the rubble has bounced to different spots all over the landscape. In clinics nationwide, tens of thousands of babies and toddlers have experienced such severe shortages of calories that they have the protruding bones and distended stomachs familiar from photographs of famine victims. Acute malnutrition affects more than one in four childrenin some areas, but it can usually be resolved relatively quickly with a steady supply of high energy Plumpy&amp;#039;Nut feeding paste. In some ways, children who suffer from chronic malnutrition are harder to treat as their need for help may not be so obvious. &amp;quot;You might see a child who appears underweight, or short for their age, but it doesn&amp;#039;t really tell you much unless you line them up against a well-nourished child. But it [chronic malnutrition] prevents them growing up to lead a more productive life,&amp;quot; says Morrison. She says a lack of iron, which affects three-quarters of Afghan children, reduces activity and productivity. In young children, it disrupts brain development, with effects including &amp;quot;stunting, sickliness, poor school attendance, and lower levels of concentration and memory&amp;quot;. A lack of iodine is the world&amp;#039;s leading cause of preventable mental impairment, and a lack of vitamin A hobbles the immune system, pushing up death rates among children under five. So severe is the damage that tackling it by lacing basic foods such as salt and flour with micronutrients has been rated one of the most economical ways to do good. You&amp;#039;d have to be uniquely naive, even by American standards, to think this won&amp;#039;t have consequences somewhere down the line. Of course, then we can blow some stuff up again. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a27072/malnutrition-in-afghanistan-012714/?src=spr_TWITTER&spr_id=1456_41848626>