'An enormous price will be paid by millions of innocent people, many of whom will die, as food, health care, employment, and income become increasingly scarce.'
Economic sanctions have, in recent years, become one of the most important tools of US foreign policy. There are currently more than 20 countries subjected to various sanctions from the US government.
But if more Americans knew how many innocent civilians actually die as a result of these sanctions, would the worst of them be permitted? The biggest and most destructive sanction currently facing Afghanistan is the seizure of more than $7 billion of the country's assets that are held at the US Federal Reserve.
We may be about to find out in Afghanistan. Sanctions currently imposed on the country are on track to take the lives of more civilians in the coming year than have been that 22.8 million people will face"high levels of acute food insecurity." This is 55 percent of Afghanistan's population, the highest ever recorded in the country. An estimated one million children are suffering from"severe acute malnutrition" this year.