With an economic crisis that has lasted for decades, hit hard by a long drought and with the Taliban back in power after nearly 20 years in mid-August, Afghanistan has lived increasingly dark days. While the regime still seeks international recognition and, at the same time, faces the country’s degrading situation, the poor pay the highest price.
Some families face such difficulty that they have no alternative but to sell their own children to pay off debts. Mohammad Ibrahim, a resident of Kabul, told DW that, with no other option to pay off a debt the family owed and have the house burnt down, he agreed to trade for his seven-year-old daughter.
“One person came and told me to pay the debt or ‘I will burn your house to ash,'” Ibrahim said. In return, he was offered the chance to “give up his daughter. The man was a rich person. $4,000)”, he added.
“It’s difficult to offer your daughter out of debt. We had nothing else to offer except our own daughter,” said Nazo, Ibrahim’s wife.
According to a report published by UNICEF, the United Nations agency responsible for providing humanitarian and development aid to children around the world, “the Covid-19 pandemic, the ongoing food crisis and the beginning of winter have further aggravated the situation for families In 2020, nearly half of the population of Afghanistan was so poor that they lacked necessities like basic nutrition or clean water.”
Detail: all this was reported by UNICEF before the recent political and social upheaval in the country. According to the organization, millions of children continue to need essential services, such as primary health care, vaccines against polio and measles, nutrition, education, protection, shelter, water and sanitation.
Daughters to ensure survival
In the northwestern province of Badghis, villagers were hit hard by prolonged droughts and had to leave villages and homes behind. Najeeba, a young woman who lives in a camp, was exchanged for her family in exchange for 50,000 Afghans.
“It’s very cold at night, and we don’t have anything to heat our houses. We want the NGOs to help us. I’m still a girl. I have two brothers, a sister and a mother. I don’t want to get married. I want to study and study. be polite,” Najeeba told DW.
Gul Ahmad, Najeeba’s father, sees no alternative but to sell his other daughters to pay the bills.
“I have no other option and if we are abandoned, I will be forced to sell my other daughters for 50, 30 or even 20,000 Afghans,” Ahmad said.
The human cost of hostilities remains very high in Afghanistan. The UN is particularly concerned about the impact of the conflict on women and girls. About 80% of the nearly 250,000 Afghans forced to flee since the end of May are women and children.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), from January 1 to October 18 of this year, 667,903 people fled their homes as a result of the conflict. Of the country’s 34 provinces, 33 registered forced displacements.
More than half of the population in extreme poverty, according to the UN
The United Nations’ World Food Program (WFP) estimates that more than half of Afghanistan’s population lives below the poverty line, and food insecurity — which is lack of access to basic supplies. of nutrition—is on the rise, largely due to political, social and economic instability affecting entire communities.
The WFP says that at least 22.8 million people, out of a total population of nearly 35 million, are affected by food insecurity in the country, including the hundreds of thousands who have had to flee conflict since the beginning of this year.
The rise in poverty can be made even more noticeable by the growing lack of movement in the once colorful and crowded streets of Kabul.
The economy is expected to shrink by up to 30% by 2021, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was around 20 billion dollars in 2020 (Brazil’s, to give you an idea, was 1.3 trillion).
According to the World Bank, 43% of that amount was based on foreign aid money. Before the Taliban’s return, 75% of public spending came from foreign aid donations.
The departure of foreign forces and many international sponsors left the country without donations, which financed three-quarters of public spending.
In recent months, the Taliban government has struggled to pay salaries to civil servants, as food prices soared and banks faced a liquidity crisis.
Many Afghans are selling goods to buy food. For many of them, unless Afghanistan receives help from abroad, extreme poverty may mean that they have to sell other sons and daughters.
“The time is now”
As the Taliban regime continues to negotiate for international recognition and thus try to prevent the country’s economic collapse, international welfare organizations are calling for immediate humanitarian aid.
Earlier this week, WFP Executive Director David Beasley called for massive support during a leadership meeting in Geneva, Switzerland.
“The time is now, we cannot wait six months. We need funds immediately so we can move supplies before winter finally comes. We cannot turn our backs on the people of Afghanistan,” Beasley said.
growth in suicide rate
While sources of income have dried up for many and unemployment continues to rise in Afghanistan, there has also been a rise in suicide rates. Rohullah, 60, a guard at a government-run school in northern Badakhshan, without receiving a salary for three months, made the decision to kill himself, leaving behind a grieving family.
Taiba, Rohullah’s daughter, told DW: “He didn’t say anything. One day we were all at home, and he asked for a pen and paper to write down the debts we had. We all thought he was kidding us, but he he was serious and a few days later he committed suicide.”
Qatiba, another daughter of Rohullah, said: “We face a lot of problems and since our father died we have nothing to eat.”
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