JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
A 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, leaving death and widespread destruction in its path. The epicenter of the quake was just outside the city of Jalalabad, near Afghanistan's border with Pakistan. Officials in Afghanistan say it will take more time to determine the number of deaths and injuries. What is the response on the ground now, and how might Afghanistan, a country already dealing with extreme poverty, move forward in the days and months to come? For more insight, we're joined now by Sherine Ibrahim. She's the International Rescue Committee's country director for Afghanistan, and she joins us now from Kabul. Welcome to the program.
SHERINE IBRAHIM: Thank you, Juana.
SUMMERS: If I understand correctly, this is an area that is rather mountainous. Does that pose additional challenges for doing rescue operations in the area?
IBRAHIM: Of course. The roads have been quite destroyed, and as a result, it's been very difficult to get the heavy machinery required to remove some of the roadblocks that have resulted from the earthquake. So what we're hearing today is that some segments of the roads have been reopened, especially around some of the easier-to-reach locations, but we are more concerned about the isolated communities and particular locations that are now partially or fully decimated. So houses, infrastructure - all gone. Travel time would be about three to five hours and unfortunately, prolonged now because of the destruction that we are currently seeing.
SUMMERS: Given the fact that Afghanistan is very prone to earthquakes and had been hit by a series of deadly earthquakes in the last decade, I wonder if those earthquakes and whether the country is still recovering from them and if that will complicate the recovery from this most recent earthquake.
IBRAHIM: So you're right to say that Afghanistan has been unfortunately impacted by several of these geophysical disasters, the last being in Herat in 2023. The reality, Juana, is that the rescue and recovery efforts are hampered not just by these recurring disasters, but by the very fact that Afghanistan is facing a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions.
SUMMERS: Yeah.
IBRAHIM: Before the earthquake of last night, Afghanistan had a population of 23 million people in need, and many of whom are suffering from acute food insecurity, don't have basic health care, and children in the millions are suffering from malnutrition. So the resources that exist today are very stretched, and the services that are provided for the majority of the Afghan people are extremely, extremely restricted. And as such, obviously, to top it off, a geophysical disaster like the one we experienced last night just devastates the ability of humanitarian actors to provide for the millions of people who are already suffering.
SUMMERS: The Trump administration has canceled more than $1 billion in promised humanitarian aid to Afghanistan. How will these cuts affect efforts on the ground from organizations like yours?
IBRAHIM: Well, I wanted your listeners to also appreciate that the U.S. government and its people have provided almost 50% of all humanitarian funding over the course of decades to Afghanistan - cut short, obviously, with the executive orders. I have to say that the current funding is so restricted that we have to make very difficult choices. Afghanistan is the largest displacement crisis in Asia, and it is the sixth most vulnerable country when it comes to climate. So an earthquake to top it all off, without the necessary resources, means that we are struggling to prioritize. We're struggling to save lives, but at the end of the day, we can only do so much.
SUMMERS: We've been speaking with Sherine Ibrahim. She's the International Rescue Committee's country director for Afghanistan. Thank you so much.
IBRAHIM: Thank you, Juana.
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