03/18/22 03/18/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> even before the conflict, developing countries were struggling to recover from the pandemic with record inflation, rising interest rates, and looming debt burdens. the ability to respond exponentially increases in the cost of financing. now their bread baskets are

being bombed. amy: the united nations is warning russia's war in ukraine could lead to millions going hungry in the global south as the price of wheat and fertilizer soar. we will look at the key role russia and ukraine play in the feeding the world with raj patel, author of "stuffed and starved: the hidden battle for the world's food system." he will talk about the four c's of global hunger -- climate covid, conflict, and capitalism. then to afghanistan. we will speak to matthieu aikins, author of the new book "the naked don't fear the water: an underground journey with afghan refugees." >> imagine right now if ukrainians come instead of being allowed to cross freely and to neighboring countries where they do not require visas, imagine if they were being forced to css the mountains and sea with smugglers and risk their lives just to escape this war. and that is the situation for

afghans, as it was for syrians, as it was for people in most conflicts of the world. amy: we will talk about the growing humanitarian crisis in afghanistan with matthieu aikins, as well as his remarkable new book about traveling with afghan refugees as they sought a safe place to live. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. russia has widened its assault on ukraine more than three weeks after president vladimir putin ordered his troops to invade. on friday morning, russian missiles struck an aircraft repair plant near the civilian airport in lviv. the attack in western ukraine came just 50 miles from the border with poland, nato member. russian artillery fell on a secondary school and a city cultural center in a town near ukraine's second-largest city of kharkiv. that attack killed 23 people. russian shells also triggered a massive fire in kharkiv that destroyed one of the largest

markets in eastern europe, killing at least three people. more strikes have hit the capital kyiv. in southern ukraine, russian ships are shelling the black sea port city of odessa. in mariupol, officials say 30,000 residents have managed to escape, but mo than 350,000 remained besieged without adequate food, water, or medicine. this is nadezdha, a mariupol retiree who survived a russian strike on her apartment block. >> my grandson went outside. all of us went to the streets. i was left as the last one. and then there was an explosion. we were left without anything. we were living in basements. it is a horror. what for? what are we guilty of? in whose eyes are we guilty? amy: at the united nations, political affairs chief rosemary dicarlo told the security council thursday the u.n. had confirmed 726 civilians killed

and nearly injured so far during 1200 russia's assault. among the dead, 115 -- and dewo cunldd,hiren. 115>> most of these casualties were caused by the use in popular areas of expose of weapons with a wide impact area. hundreds of residential buildings have been damaged or destroyed, as have hospitals and schools. amy: meanwhile u.s. intelligence officials say more than 7000 russian troops have been killed during the first three weeks of fighting, including young conscripts forced into russian military service. the house of representatives voted overwhelmingly thursday to sever normal trade relations with russia over its assault on ukraine and to further sanction belarus over its support of russia's military. the bill now heads to the senate where majority leader chuck schumer has promised a speedy debate. meanwhile, president biden is speaking by phone with chinese leader xi jinping today. ahead of the talks, secretary of

state tony blinken said china will face consequences if it moves to resupply russia's military or takes other steps to support the ukraine invasion. >> we will make clear that china will bear responsibility for any actions it takes to support russia's aggression and we will not hesitate to impose costs. amy: the world health organization is warning the coronavirus pandemic is far from over with a number of global daily cases again on the rise. many european countries are experiencing a new surge in cases tied to ba.2, a fast spreading subvariant of the omicron variant. south korea reported more than 620,000 new cases and 429 deaths thursday alone. until this year, south korea had one of the world's most successful responses to covid-19.

here in the united states, the head of president biden's coronavirus task force is stepping down. the white house says jeff zients will be replaced by ashish jha, the dean of the brown university school of public health. zients drew praise early in biden's presidency for his science-based approach to the pandemic, but drew fire for failing to make rapid antigen tests and n95 masks widely available and affordable to the public. he also killed a proposal that would have provided paid quarantine and isolation for most u.s. workers. in a statement, public citizen said -- "the zients-led covid response refused to challenge big pharma's monopoly control, in the u.s. and globally, over technologies that relied crucially on public support. as a result, the united states and other rich countries failed to expand vaccine supply sufficient to meet global need." in australian appeals court has overturned a historic 2021 ruling that said the government had a duty of care to protect children from the effects of the

climate catastrophe. the case was brought by eight australian teenagers ia bid to prevent the expansion of a coal mine. the ung plaintiffs could still appeal the ruling. this comes as seven youth climate activists in utah launched a new suit against their state and utah officials this week. they argue fossil fuel development violates their constitutional rights and poses an existential threat to utah's children. a u.s. federal appeals court ruled the biden administration can factor in the cost of the climate crisis in policy decisions. the decision stays a ruling from a lower court which banned the administration from considering what is referred to as the social cost of carbon. it could affect upcoming decisions on oil and gas drilling leases and regulatory practices. sprawling saharan sandstorms cast an orange glow across european skies this week. the effect was most dramatic in

spain, where authorities urged residents to stay indoors to avoid breathing the coarse particulate matter. scientists warned the climate crisis will intensify such events in the coming years. in western sahara, a delegation of u.s.-based volunteersas arrived at the home of pminent sahrawi human rights defender sultana khaya, her sister laura, and their family. it's a rare visit by international human rights observers to the territory, which has suffered under moroccan occupation since 1975. the u.s. delegation includes adrienne kinney, a former u.s. army intelligence officer and president of veterans for peace. their visit breaks a 482-day siege of the home, where family members have been forcibly confined by moroccan security forces since the khaya sisters november 2020. say they were raped last year moroccan agents in front of their 84-year-old mother. the agents also stole mobile

phones, threw trash, urine, and a noxious black liquid into the family's drinking water storage tank. to see our interview with sultana khaya, go to our website democracynow.org and link to our documentary "four days in western sahara, africa's last colony." in east timor, voters are heading to the polls saturday. among a field of 16 presidential candidates are incumbent francisco "lu-olo" guterres of the revolutionary front for an independent east timor and former president jose ramos-horta, a nobel peace prize winner. ramos-horta has been leading in the polls. the winner will take office on may 20, the th anniversary of east timor's independence from indonesia. peru's government has vowed to -- authorized the release of 83-year-old former president alberto fujimori from prison. fujimori has served less than 15 years of a 25-year sentence for human rights abuses and crimes committed during his rule in the 1990's, including kidnapping,

bribery, and ordering massacres by death squads. the government of president castille said it would appeal the ruling before the inter-american court of human rights. protesters took to the streets following the news. this is gisela ortiz, former peruvian culture minister, whose brother was murdered during fujimori's dictatorship. >> spontaneously came out to react to this unjust and illegal decision from the constitutional tribunal which gives fujimori freedom. he is a former president who violated human rights. we are demanding our right to justice is guaranteed. amy: a judge in honduras has authorized the extradition of former president juan orlando hernandez to the united states on drug-trafficking and firearms charges. hernandez is a longtime u.s. ally who ended his presidential term less than two months ago. he's also accused of accepting millions of dollars in bribes to

shield drug traffickers from the law. in a court filing, witnesses say the ex-president said he wanted to shove cocaine "right up the noses of the gringos." a warning to our audience, the following story contains graphic footage of police violence. in los angeles, newly released video shows the death of edward bronstein at the hands of california highway patrol officers. the 38-year-old father of five was arrested in march of 2020 on suspicion of driving under the influence and brought to a chp station in the los angeles suburb of altadena. a 17-minute video recorded by a police sergeant opens with officers demanding bronstein give a blood sample to measure his blood alcohol level. >> you are bringing to the fight to this. >> i'm not fighting at all. >> then have a seat and provide your arm. this is your last opportunity.

otherwise you're going facedown on the map and we're going to keep on going. amy: after bronstein hesitates, five officers tackle and pin him to the ground, pressing their combined body weight into bronstein's back and neck. >> do it willingly. i will do it willingly. i will do it willingly! amy: the video shows officers ignoring bronstein's pleas to willingly give a blood sample. he screams repeatedly and gasps "i can't breathe" 12 times. >> i can't breathe1 i can't breathe! >> stop yelling. amy: bronstein's screams grow quieter and he falls still. two minutes ss as ofcers continue to draw blood. one officer checks for a pulse, calls bronstein's name, and slaps him in the side of his head as he appears to be

unconscious. officers call for a paramedic, but continue to draw blood from bronstein's limp body. more than 11 minutes after bronstein's last screams, officers finally begin administering cpr. bronstein's family is suing the california highway patrol for wrongful death, assault and battery, civil rights violations and failure to render aid. a federal judge ruled bronstein's family had a right to view the video and make it public after california state attorneys fought to prevent its release. bronstein's family is also demanding criminal charges for the officers involved. and in washington, d.c., faculty at howard university have announced they could go on strike next week over unresolved issues with their working conditions, including below-living wages for non-tenured educators. this is cyrus hampton, a contingent faculty member who teaches full-time in howard's english department. >> we are calling on our tenured and tenure-track colleagues to stand with us and honor our picket line during the strike.

we are calling on our students, alums, support as in our effort to overcome the unfair labor practices of university leadership and to better the university as a whole. amy: howard is one of the top historically black colleges and universities in the united states. last fall, students won improvements to university housing and other concessions after they held a weeks-long sit-in protest occupying a student center on campus. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. when we come back, the united nations is warning russia's war in ukraine could lead to millions going hungry in the global south as the price of wheat and fertilizer soar. we will look at the key role russia and ukraine play in feeding the world with raj patel , author of "stuffed and starved: the hidden battle for the world's food system." stay with us. ♪♪ [muc break]

amy: a ukrainian pianist playing a piece by frerick chon in

thruins ofer home tside ky after iwas damad by russn shelli. the deo was corded bher ughter w turns heramera to show sttered gla, blown ay doors, broke fniture. thvideo hasince go viral. is is decracy no, demoacynowrg, the r and ace repo. 'm amgoodman. e unit nationss warnin russia's vasion oukraine could lead to "hurricane of hunger and a melown of the global food system." wheat and fertilizer prices have soared since the war began three weeks ago. the u.n.'s food and agricultural organization warns global food prices could jump by 22% this year, which will have a devastating impact on the global south. russia is the world's largest wheat and fertilizer exporter. ukraine is the world's fifth largest wheat exporter. the two countries are also major exporters of corn and barley. rising fuel prices will also contbute to higher food prices. u.n. secretary general antonio

guterres addressed the crisis earlier this week. he said the bread basket of the developing world is being bombed. >> while war reigns over ukraine, hanging over the economy, especially in the developing worlds. even before the conflicts, developing countries were struggling to recover from the pandemic with record inflation, rising interest rates, and looming debt burdens. the ability to respond has been raised exponentially increases in the cost of financing. now the bread baskets are being bombed. russia ukraine requisites more than half of the world supply of sunflower oil and 30% of the world's wheat. ukraine alone provides more than half of the world's food program 's wheat supply, food,

fertilizer prices are skyrocketing. supply chains are being disrupted. and the costs and delays of transportation of imported goods when available are at record levels and all of this is hitting the poorest the hardest and planting the seeds for political instability and unrest around the world. grain prices have already exceeded those at the start of the arab spring and the riots of 2007-2008. the fao's global food prices index is at the highest level ever. 45 african and least developed countries import at least one third of their wheat from ukraine and russia. 18 of those countries import at least 50%. this includes countries like burkina faso, egypt, democratic republic of the congo, lebanon, somalia, sudan, and yemen.

we must do everything possible to avert a hurricane of hunger and the meltdown of the global food system. amy: those are the words of u.n. secretary general antonio guterres earlier this week. to talk more about how russia's war in ukraine is leading to a global food crisis, we are joined by raj patel. he is a research professor at the university of texas at austin. author of "stuffed and starved: the hidden battle for the world's food system" and co-director of the documentary "the ants and the grasshopper," which focuses on agroecology, hunger, and climate change. he also serves on the international panel of experts on sustainable food systems. so, together ukraine and russia provide something like a quarter of the world's wheat. can you talk about how russia's invasion of ukraine is threatening the global south? >> you're quite right, amy.

between russia and ukraine, about 28% of the global wheat trade measured by weight comes from russia and ukraine. for some countries, like eritrea -- eritrea imports 100% of its wheat from the combined forces of russia and ukraine. it is not just countries that import wheat directly from these countries that are feeling the impact because what will happen is with the absence of these stocks available, the global price in wheat will go up and countries will try to source that wheat from other places. what that means is globally come the price of wheat is going up and the shots of the ukraine invasion get propagated everywhere. and that is how you will be able to see an increase in hunger as a result of this. united nations has been modeling that now the global number of people who are suffering under

nutrition will possibly 830 million people and that is driven by a price increase as you mentioned before of up to 22% in global wheat market. what is happening is once the supply becomes uncertain, global markets price in the uncertainty. you see wheat hitting record levels earlier on this month. that means with high prices, your likely see the kinds of instability the secretary-general is mentioning earlier on. amy: talked about how the seasons work right now. we moving into just a few weeks what would planting season in ukraine anrussia. >> right. what we're saying at the moment is farmers -- you may have seen farmers trying to get into their fields and to access some of the winter wheat that is ready for

harvest and getting ready for spring planting. all of that becomes much less certain. again, that uncertainty promulgates worldwide because of the other ecologies under threat or affected and that is fertilizer. as you mentioned andhe introduction, rushers the world's largest nitrogen fertilizer exporter and it is also a significant exporter of phosphorus. all of these are things that industrial agriculture requires in order to be able to get the yields we are accustomed to. with the price of these fertilizers going up, is not just farmers in ukraine who are suffering the end packs. globally, farmers were dependent on these fertilizers are starting to make decisions about planting spring crops, for instance, in north america. the supply response is not as robust as one might think. it is not as if farmers are heading off into the fields and deciding to cover everything in

wheat in large part because it will be expensive to fertilize that and we are already seeing a drought in large parts of the wheat belt spurred by climate change. this combination of the global network of international commodity prices driving up the prices everywhere means farmers are thinking twice about whether to vastly increase the number of acres they have under wheat production. amy: 30% of yemen's wheat imports comes from ukraine. shortly after russia's invasion of ukraine, many yemenis rushed to purchase. >> the ukrainian russian war will affect the whole world and not just us. this world will -- we are an importer of wheat and most of the foods duffs are from abroad so undoubtedly, we will be affected. we have a great confidence in

god that it will be resolved, god willing. >> everything is available whether wheat or wheat flour. our country as a war and prices are fixed as we suffer from war. the war has caused the price of wheat to agree so much, that some traders and priest there prices -- increase their prices. amy: food costs have more than doubled in many areas of yemen in the past year. according to the u.n., more than 17.4 million yemenis are food insecure and 1.6 million people in yemen are expected to fall into emergency levels of hunger in coming months. can you elaborate on this? >> what we have seen this this conflict is happening after a dismal two years of the pandemic and dismal 10 years of recovery

after the last global receion. so all of this is sort of compounding one another. let's start with we are thinking about the drivers of hunger internationally. you can sort of help remember them by thinking about the fourc's, the most recent, covid, which has caused global increases in hunger not because covid attacked cereals or in some way destroyed who directly, but because covid had a massive impact on the economies of countries around the world, particularly in the global south. while we in the united states were able to dodge theorst of it with nearly 40 million people in this country being food insecure and somehow that is considered acceptable, globally, the number of people who were -- are food insecure is in excess of 2.3 billion. that is a huge increase on the figures before the pandemic. so covid, by generating poverty,

also generated hunger. on top of covid, of conflict. again, ukraine is obviously a major conflict but not the only one. the dynamics of conflict are invariably sort of similar in when conflict happens farming is disrupted, the battlefield moves through rural areas, but also has long-term implications for farmers not just in destroying the land and the capacity demand, but also through the human populations that move through the land. and all of that, again, drives of hunger. the third thing to worry about is climate change. you mentioned this at the top of the hour. climate change is just getting worse. there are large parts of the world where you see 10 years ago, we had a range of food rebellion. people taking to the streets because of the hype eyes, in particular wheat, but 10 years

the high price was generated by a once in 500 year climatic event in russia. a heat wave that killed tens of thousands of people directly but obligated huge -- promulgated huge spikes in the cost of wheat road ride -- will write. most have 10 years ago there were these food rebellions, just recovering from a category three cyclone that pass through the area and left vast amounts of devastation. climate change is making not just the farming food much harder -- i mentioned the drought in the united states, extreme weather events are happening everywhere -- but also generating displacements, generating -- again, driving hunger. the fourth c is capitalism. the way we grow food today is not with an ambition to make

sure everyone in the world is fed in a nutritious way. the reason to grow food is to make money. as long as food is grown in order to generate profits rather than to end hunger, we structurally are always going to have people who cannot afford that food. tragically, as a result of the rise in prices, we are certain to see tens of millions more people forced into hunger throughout the global south, particularly in asia, the asia-pacific region will be much harder hit just because of the levels of hunger that already exist there. sub-saharan africa will have a tough, too. amy: the u.n. secretary-general mentioned the arab spring, warning how the invasion of ukraine can lead to deepening hunger in the world. a sharp wheat coincided in 2011 with the arab spring. can you talk about that juxtaposition? >> the secretary-general

mentioned two moments of high pres and low affordability of food. there was 2007-2 thousand eight spike that's all protests in places like haiti for instance. yes, in 2010 we saw the arab spring begin -- triggered by the assault on food vendors and all of a sudden, you saw massive amounts of people taking to the streets, driven in part by the government's inability to provide affordable food when people had come to expect that. it would be reasonable to expect more protests this time around. in the intervening years, what we have not seen governments necessarily flocked to the idea what we need is grain storage, in particular with rising rates, grain storage becomes expensive for countries. instead, what we are saying globally, a sort of turn to a nationalism in a way that casts

the working poor and upper-class off. you see strong when around the world whether it is putin or modi in india, presiding over catastrophic incidents because of covid and his management of the economy. instead of admitting what is needed is a redistribution of wealth and resources to the poorest, see this national turn work becomes criminalized to criticized the government and becomes treasonous to say anything other than fighting for the flag is the right thing to do. and under cover of this sort of patriotism, the working class is being sold out. i would fully expect to see far more protests of people taking to the streets. these are not prophecies. we have already seen protests of those who have defaulted under their dad, in

sri lanka for example. i think it is easy to see a moment in which the forces of nationalism are up against the forces of demands of working class, members of 6i-80 who are up against a fairly -- society who are up against a fairly patriarchal response. i worry a return of police forces opening fire on working-class people who are making a demand simply for the bread. amy: by more than 60% of the wheat abroad, 80% of that is from russia and ukraine. >> exactly. some othose shipments have managed to get through, the short to medium-term prognosis is not good. because governments have failed to learn -- because

international develop in agencies -- the wise thing to do is to withdraw from the international trading system and make sure your domestic supply chains are robust, i worry we are being set up to see many more protests. in the intervening 10 years, under assault systematically. i worry the outcome is going to be a revival of a certain kind of nationalism that portends violence toward the working class rather than liberation. amy: here at home, the financial times has reported the u.s. farm service agency is thinking about loosening federal restrictions on land. can you explain what extly that means and what the effects of this would be if it happens? >> it is a little too early to say. i was struck by this almost throwaway line in the financial times where the financial times

is no vested getting body, is the response to be able to plant more wheat here in the united states. somebody from the federal government was saying, we are monitoring the situation closely. what this might mean is the conservation easements can be violated and that morland can be put under planting. what i'm also seeing and hearing is farmers are not in position to be able to take full advantage of that because, again, high fertilizer prices means if you start planting something, up to take care of the crop to make it economical. if fertilizer prices are high, that is her problem. again, because of climate change in the united states, because of droughts and industrial agriculture really draining aquifers, it is not immediately clear even if the federal government were to open up its plan to plant baby plants, echoing drill, baby drill, it is not clear the supply would be

adequate. even if farmers did that, it was still be four months. in the short term, there's very little relief united states is in a position to provide. at the worry again is under cover of a certain kind of patriotism, there will be transfer of resources to certain kinds of people without a fall in the level of hunger globally -- amy: we only have a minute and i want to ask how the world's food system can be changed to better prepared for crises like these? to prevent war from happening at all? >> certainly, transition to more agro ecological farming is wise for 70 reasons. it increases our resilience to climate change, shortens supply chains, makes the food system more robust and relook less as the economy in a way that can

support many more jobs and ensure there is a return to certain kind of commitment making sure everyone gets fed, and this will require a real commitment, not just a land reform, but to gder equality. hunger is a globally gendered phenomenon. also will require reparations from the global north and global south for the damage we have caused these global agro systems to be sober honorable in the first place. we have solutions, but breaking a full suite of a transformative agro ecological shift in the food systems is very doable. we have the policies and new -- know what to do and we have to fight for political change to make that possible. amy: raj patel, thank you for being with us. research professor at the university of texas at austin. author of "stuffed and starved: the hidden battle for the world's food system." up next, matthieu aikins on "the naked don't fear the water: an underground journey with afghan refugees." stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "bad seeds" by saadi. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. as we turn now to afghanistan,

the united nations high commissioner for refugees filippo grandi visited the afghan capital of kabul this week and urged the international community not to neglect afghanistan, where more than half the population is experiencing acute hunger. >> the entire attention of the world is focused on ukraine and, by the way, on the refugee crisis that ukraine -- the ukraine war is producing, and so because it is big, it is serious, i thought it was important to bring the message that other situations which also require political attention and resources should not be forgotten and neglected. especially afghanistan. amy: afghanistan has faced a looming humanitarian crisis since the taliban took control last august, with millions on the brink of starvation. the u.n. refugee agency says 3.4 million afghans are internally displaced, another 2.6 million afghans have fled afghanistan as refugees.

to discuss all of this, we speak to the award-winning journalist matthieu aikins, contributing writer for "the new york times magazine" who has reported on the u.s. occupation and war in afghanistan since 2008. he has written a remarkable book titled "the naked don't fear the water: an underground journey with afghan refugees." and his "new york times" essay headlined "we've never been smuggled before," he writes about afghans who are trying to escape their country as its economy is collapsing. i began by asking him to answer a question he poses in his article, who does the west consider worthy of saving? >> imagine right now is ukrainians instead of being allowed to cross freely and to neighboring countries, into the eu where they do not require visas, imagine ithey were being forced to cross the mountains and sea with smugglers and risk their lives just to escape this war. and that is the situation for

afghans as it was for syrians as it was for people in most conflicts in the world. they are caged in by these borders and unable to cross freely without visas. when i went to afghanistan, the summer and fall i went to the border with iran and witnessed a new wave of afghans who are displaced, who are fleeing their country and spoke to a young couple there for the subject of this article that you mentioned, and they decided to escape the taliban and were facing this deadly journey through the desert in order to reach safety. that, unfortunately, is a situation for afghans. nermeen: matt, on the queson of refugees and where afghan refugees have been able to enter , the vast majority of which weren -- of whom were in afghanistan -- sorry, in pakistan and iran, but more

recently, it has been harder for them to even enter those countries. >> yeah. they need visas in most cases and they areot easy to get. the passport office was not working. this young woman did not have a passport before the collapse, so she could not get one. even if they do have one, they cannot get visas -- afghans have one of the wor passports in the world when it comes to visa for free travel. that is actually deliberate. these visa laws are put in place to keep out asylum-seekers, which the west does not want. it is very start difference in treatment between the vast majority of refugees and what is happening in ukraine right now, which is good people should be allowed to flee wars without having to resort to smugglers. nermee math, before we go to the situation, the political

situation in afghanistan now and later your bk, if you could talk about the humanitarian crisis, as we said in the introduction, 70 5% of afghanistan's population has now fallen into acute poverty. 5 million afghans facing acute malnutrition. the u.n. secretary-general warning the country was hangi by a thread. could you talk about what you know of the causes of this crisis and what you think needs to be done? >> well, one thing we have to understand is there's been a malnutrition, poverty crisis and afghanistan for a long time. poverty and on nutrition shall he got worse during u.s. occupation -- malnutrition actually got worse during u.s. occupation. of course, the collapse made it far worse.

we over 20 years built the most have independent state in the world, perhaps in history. the sudden withdrawal of that aid is have predictable consequences. it is led to the near collapse of the government and a situation where people do not have enough to eat, in some cases they selling their children in very young marriages in order to survive. where they are fleeing across borders just to find jobs. so people are fleeing a catastrophe that we have direct responsibility for, but under the refugee laws that we have today, doubt does not make -- that does not make them eligible for asylum, someone fleeing starvation is not considered a refugee in the classic definition in terms of the geneva convention of 1951. and yet that is absolutely what is driving a lot of afghans to leave their country. nermeen: you said i humanitarian

crisis is not grounds -- a humanitarian crisis is not grounds for seeking asylum, refugee status. in addition to the humanitarian crisis, there have been widespread route words of the taliban cracking down on women, women activistsformer members -- members of the former government, asell as on journalists. i mean, are those people still trying to fleehe country? >> they are. but like i said, very difficult to leave. people are facing the risk of persecution. i've a friend there and every dai wake up to messages on my phone, people were desperate to get out. it is very, very difficult for them to get visas and leave. even if they can get to a neighboring country like iran and pakistan, they're looking at waiting years for refugee resettlement. there are a lot of people trying

to gethem out. these are people who want to leave. people in the west who support them, people we have a responsibility for due to our long involvement in the country and the mess we left behind, yet again because of the visa restrictions, because of immigration laws, because of man-made constraints, these people are trapped in a desperate situation. i think that is what we should be aware of and one of the things i wanted to explain in my book is just how much of the suffering and restrictions faced by refugees, faced by migrants, are the result of laws. it takes a case like ukraine where people are just leaving, just getting in their car and driving to poland for us to see just how much of the suffering is actually unnecessary in places like afghanistan. amy: let's take a deep dive into your book because you tell the

story so graphically what happens to refugees, you know, those who are "worth saving" and those who aren't. matthieu aikins'book is called "the naked don't fear the water: an underground journey with afghan refugees." we have rule on democracy now! , matt, and that is no sound bytes. you have to give us the whole meal here. can you talk about the journey you took, the obstacles, the four people face when they are fleeing, desperate situation which is what you could describe afghanistan, the country as over the last decades of the invasion and occupation of afghanistan? talk about your journey. >> the story begins with my friend whom i call omar in the book. omar was one of the first people i met in afghanistan when i went there. he had grown up in exile.

his parents fled the soviets. afghans have been at war now for 40 years, tragically. they came back after 2001 full of hope for the future of their country, for this era of development and peace the west had promised after the afghan invaon. he became a translator with the american military. he was also for canadians. he spoke english. then he decided he wanted to work with journalists, and th is when we met. we worked together for many years in the country while i was living in afghanistan and i got to know his family as well. like many afghans, he dreamed of emigrating to the west. he applied for one of these special immigrant visas that the u.s. grants to employees, local employees in afghanistan and iraq. he should have qualified, but because of all of the paperwork rerictions, he was rejected. this happened in 2015 when as

you probably recall, there was a migration crisis in europe. one million people crossed the mediterranean sea. it washe largest movement of refugees in history. these little rubber refs. the borders open briefly and omar thought, this is my chance to go. so he decided to take the smugglers road europe in order to escape. i decided to go with him. the only way can do that was to go undercover as afghan refugee myself. because of the danger of being kidnapped or being arrested and separated. and because -- my mother's ancestors are japanese, but i looked ahan and i speak persian from living there for so many years. so i was able to do that. the book is a story of our journey together through the migrant angered around -- underground to europe.

amy: talk about the journey you took. talk about where you started with your friend omar and what you faced. >> it started in kabul when he decided to go. he was on the fence about leaving for a while because he had fallen in love with a young woman, the neighbor's daughter. he did not want to leave and risk losing her but ultimately, he realized that was the only way her father hu jintao at the marriage to happen -- who did all of their marriage to happen would give him her hand because he needed to show he could bri her legally to europe perhaps. he made a decision to set off and we traveled -- the iranian border is a desert between iran and afghanistan. this is where migrants cost. very dangerous journey that takes you through wild terrain

controlled by drug smugglers and insurgents. we ended up at a smugglers safe house. there were many twists and turns, which i guess i should not get into here, but we entuallyound ourselves in turkey. and then from turkey, we went to the coa. again, with smugglers. we were driven to the beach and deposited around midnight and told to get on board a little rubber raft. there were about 40 people, men, women, and children. some were syrians, some afghans, some africans. we were all together in this tiny boat that set off into the sea around midnight. that was the crossing that many refuge make in hopes of reaching safety on the greek islands. nermeen: you said omar himself

grew up in exile, he and his family returned to afghanistan in 2001 after the taliban were ousted. wherdid he grow up? also, explain the role of smugglers. who they are and the exorbitant sums they often charge people trying to flee. >> they do often represent life savings for people, these sums of money they have to pay. the more money you have, the safer your journey and the less money you have, the more risks you're forced to take. but the fact of the matter is, as i mentioned, almost every refugee needs a smuggler because they are not allowed to cross borders. they don't have -- they come from countries normally wear passports do not allow them to travel. smugglers are a necessity.

there often scapegoated for the migration crisis but in reality, they're created by borders. the harsher of order is, the more difficult it is to cross, the more are going to be willing to pay smugglers, the more of an economy a creates. this is something afghans have lived with for decades. like i said, omar grew up in iran and he and his family were also in pakistan. they were on the move throughout his childhood. very often, they were crossing borders with the help of smugglers. one of the things i talked about in the book in terms of history is how these borders have gotten more and more difficult to cro over time. so when they were fleeing the soviets at that time, is tually relatively easy to cross in some places. you may just pay a small bribe to a border guard. over the years as neighboring countries tried to keep out afghan migrants, they built

walls, stepped up controls, increased violence at the borders. that adjustment people had to pay -- that just went people had to pay more, take deeper detours into the mountains. there bribes paid now have increased. the cost has increased. and yet people are still crossing. there's been a massive way -- when i was on the border this fall, we saw -- i was told by smugglers that never seen this many people crossing. there was an estimate maybe a million afghans have crossed into iran this fall. the borders don't keep people out. they don't keep desperate people from moving, but they do enrich smugglers. amy: one of the things you exposed was the drone strike at the very end come the last one the world saw because all the world's media was there, though that had happened many, many, many times before throughout afghanistan where there were not witnesses, where there were not journalists, creating so many

internal refugees who than ultimately are the refugees who try to leave the country. i wanted to connect it to something that just happened a few weeks ago in the senate. in january, the senate judiciary committee held a hearing on the cost of 20 years of the u.s. drone strikes. the hearing began when the committee chair, senator dick durbin, played a clip fr democracy now! of a yemeni victim of the u.s. drone strike. among those who testified was the director of national security project for the acl which represents survivors of the august 29 drone strike in kabul you so well documented that killed 10 afghan civilians. >> i have listened to fathers describe the horror of having to pick up the body parts of their children. i have listened to one of my clients struggle to breathe through her despair after the

killing of her husband, an aid worker for an american ngo, and three of her sons and one of her grandchildren. my clients grief is compounded by the fact for 19 days, our government kept up false allegations about their loved ones, wrongly asserting the strike was righteous and successful against isis operatives. the pentagon later admitted to its mistake, but the damages done. amy: her testimony drew an angry response from the south carolina republican senator lindsey graham, whose second-biggest source of campaign contributions for his 2020 reelection campaign were employees of the major droneroducer lockheed martin. this is senator graham. >> afghanistan is a breeding ground for terrorism. everybody we work with is being slaughtered and we want to talk about limiting -- closing gitmo and restricting the drone

program. you are living in a world that does not exist. amy: that is lindsey graham lecturing her. can you describe the world that does exist as you saw it with the u.s. drone strikes and afghanistan? >> well, yeah, i was there the next morning after the drone strike in kabul and i saw somebody parts in the wreckage of a vehicle that the u.s. had destroyed inside a family home. some of those body parts belonged tohe sevenhildren o were killed in the strike. as you mentioned, the strike was one of many. this is well documented. it haen in kabul when the world was focused, but there are countless trucks that have taken place in remote areas where people cannot visit. we just have the military's version of events. the point is right now, we have

a direct responsibility for what has happened in afghanistan. there is no easy solutions. i don't think just sealing off the borders and bombing them with drones is in any way going to help the situation. it is not reflective of the responsibility we bear. we should be working to actively alleviate the humanitarian crisis as best we can. instead, we are cutting off the afghan central bank's funds, saying we are going to distribute it to the 9/11 families. i think people would like to turn their backs on afghanistan and forget about them. but the truth is, we have much more responsility for what afghans are fleeing then ukrainians, for ample. amy: if you could explain that last point. it is one that we have focused on a lot. but this issue, if we could end on the sanctions against the money. we had on a mother whose son s

killed in the 9/11 attacks by phyllis rodriguez, and she said not in her son's name. this point of the sanctions put on the aide to afghanistan that is preventing the people of afghanistan from getting their money. >> what we have done is we have frozen deposits the afghan central bank had in u.s. banks, and that is completely crippled the financial system and exacerbated the terrible crisis that is happening in the country. you know, to see this money and say you're going to distribute it the 9/11 families to me is not only cruel, but illogical because this money does not belong to the taliban. it belongs to the afghan people.

it is clearly a policy that is being done for domestic reasons, for domestic political reasons. i think it is sadly representative of an administration that clearly is not thinking about afghans first. amy: award-winning journalist matthieu aikins, author of the new book "the naked don't fear the water: an underground journey with afghan refugees." this update, earlier this become the biden administration designated temporary protective status, or tps, for afghanistan, which will protect afghan refugees from deportation for 18 months, including the 76,000 who fled after the u.s. military withdrawal and arrived here before march 15. the move came about two weeks after biden granted tps to ukrainians. that does it for our show. happy early birthday to tami woronoff!

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