Despair mounts in Afghan food crisis

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http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-afghan-foodjun02,0,4420004.story

By Kim Barker | Tribune correspondent
12:26 AM CDT, June 2, 2008

KABUL, Afghanistan — Faced with skyrocketing food prices and no job, Mohammad Daud decided he had suffered enough. The 27-year-old swallowed 100 sleeping pills and died.

His decision late last month reflects panic in this war-torn country over the price of food, especially wheat, the staple of the Afghan diet. Afghanistan, landlocked and drought-ridden, depends on aid and food imports to survive, and the world's food crisis has hit hard.

"He became so disappointed, he killed himself," said Shuja Ullah, Daud's brother-in-law, who said Daud took care of his mother, his 11-year-old son and the four orphans of his two late brothers. "If he had food, why would he kill himself? He wouldn't. He could not afford to buy food for his family. Everyone felt so bad for him. But the government didn't."

Few countries have suffered from the global squeeze on food like Afghanistan, one of the world's poorest nations, where most of the agricultural land is devoted to poppies. While other countries also struggle with supply and demand, the crisis here is compounded by the Taliban-led insurgency and the drug trade.