Reuters reports famine in Afghanistan because of drought:

Some 2.5 million drought-stricken Afghans across much of the country have lost their crops and are facing acute food shortages, international aid group Christian Aid warned on Wednesday in the capital, Kabul.

An assessment carried out by the aid group in 66 villages in the provinces of Badghis, Farah, Faryab, Herat and Ghor, mainly in the northwest, found that many people have lost 70 to 80 percent of their rain-fed crops following too little rain last winter and spring.

It’s worth recalling Mickey Glantz’s observation:

Although many people have been led by their governments and the media to believe that droughts are the primary cause of famines, closer scrutiny of most famine situations uncovers a multistressed political environment, of which drought was but one factor.

Let’s see…. Afghanistan. Multistressed political environment. Hmmm.