Press Release
Western Colonial Wars and Incompetent Western-Installed Regimes have Turned Afghanistan's Natural Disasters into Human Catastrophes for its Women and Children

At least 25 women and 22 children were among the dozens killed by a massive landslide that swept through Juerm Balla village in Khawahan district of Afghanistan's northern Badakhshan province on Tuesday 28^th April according to the deputy provincial governor, Gul Mohammed Beidar. On Thursday 30^th April, Sayed Humayun Dhkhan from the National Disaster Management Authority in Badakhshan province stated that 237 houses had been wiped out by the mudslide, and that 2 days after the disaster, more than 800 people in Khawahan district have no roof over their heads and are living and sleeping in the open air. Furthermore, the Afghan government has still not recovered the dead from the mudslide to give them an appropriate burial. This is the country's latest natural disaster. Last May, at least 350 were killed when a landslide triggered by heavy rains destroyed an entire village in the same province. It was reported that the disaster obliterated around a third of the village of Aab Barik and that many of those who died were women and children.

Natural disasters are one of the Signs of Allah (swt). However, years of Western colonial wars in Afghanistan coupled with the utter incompetency of Western-installed secular regimes have increased the vulnerability of its population to the affects of heavy rains and other environmental disasters. The lack of infrastructure, development, and basic equipment in the Badakshan province for example has severely hampered rescue efforts. The extreme poverty affecting the majority of its people has also left them further susceptible to the consequences of such landslides. Many families live in flimsy mud houses that offer little protection against rising water levels and surges of mud. Furthermore, years of extensive environmental degradation due to government mismanagement of land, resources, and agricultural practices has led to mass deforestation which accelerated soil erosion across large parts of Afghanistan, increasing its vulnerability to landslides and damage caused by floods and other natural disasters. Illegal logging as well as intensive timber cutting has gone unchallenged. Additionally, Western colonial wars in the country caused the collapse of local and national structures of governance, resulting in the inability of authorities to effectively manage the effects of natural disasters. Indeed, the US and NATO invaders along with the International community have failed to even provide adequate technical or logistic help to deal with this current disaster. Moreover, despite Afghanistan's secular government being aware of the susceptibility of Badakshan and other parts of the country to regular flooding and mudslides, especially during spring when heavy rains and melting of snow raises the likelihood of such disasters, it has criminally neglected to take any preventative measures - such as early warning systems, impact mitigation, or rapid response mechanisms - to protect people's lives and livelihood. Rather the number one priority of this Western-installed regime has been to use its wealth, resources, and army to fight wars against its own population on behalf of foreign powers, rather than govern their citizens with sincerity, leaving Afghanistan's women and children unprotected and uncared for.

O Muslims of Afghanistan! Surely your honourable women and children deserve better than to be ruled by incompetent leaderships who care nothing for the sanctity of Muslim life but rather tend only to the interests of their Western masters. Surely they deserve a leadership that exemplifies guardianship of its people and whose priority is caring for the interests of this Ummah. Such a leadership will only be provided by the Khilafah "Caliphate" upon the method of the Prophethood. It is a state which will invest heavily in the development of the infrastructure of its land and exploration of its resources to deliver a good life to its people. Furthermore, it will spare no expense and exert maximum efforts to protect its citizens and ensure the security and safety of its citizens in the face of all that which may harm them, whether from foreign attacks or from the affects of natural disasters. So we call you to give your full support to the urgent establishment of this state which alone appreciates the true sanctity of human life.

Dr. Nazreen Nawaz
Director of the Women's Section
in the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir