One year since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, a new report from Islamic Relief is calling on the international community to step up efforts to address the country’s economic collapse. The report sets out 10 steps to prioritise in order to save lives, protect livelihoods and ensure a better future for Afghan civilians.
Over the past year, an economic crisis has plunged millions of people into poverty, hunger and malnutrition. 24 million people, more than half the population, are now in need of aid. Since August 2021, the international community has cut billions of dollars in development assistance and frozen the Central Bank’s assets, while banking restrictions continue to obstruct humanitarian agencies and the private sector.
In the report, “What is our future? Afghanistan on a knife edge”, Islamic Relief talks to people across Afghanistan about how the crisis is affecting their lives and how they are trying to survive – from parents struggling to feed their malnourished children to key workers who no longer receive salaries or pensions, and mothers doing everything they can to keep their teenage daughters in education despite the ban on attending secondary schools. The research finds that people are being forced into increasingly harmful ways of trying to cope with the crisis. More than 80% of Afghan families are now trapped in crippling debt, taking an enormous toll on their mental health. Food prices have spiralled out of reach and families now have to spend 73% of their money on food. Growing numbers of girls and boys are forced into early marriage and dangerous work as a result.
Based on interviews, focus groups and assessments from Islamic Relief’s extensive programmes across the country, the report calls on the international community to reinstate international development assistance, provide technical support to Afghanistan’s Central Bank, and take other steps to inject liquidity into the economy, tackle international banking restrictions and support Afghan civil society. It calls for more support for women and girls in particular, and warns that the current international approach risks doubly punishing women and girls by pushing them further into poverty and hunger.
Shahin Ashraf, Islamic Relief’s head of global advocacy, says:
“The world must not abandon Afghans at this critical moment. Behind the shocking statistics of hunger and poverty in Afghanistan are real people. We meet mothers taking on crippling levels of debt so their children can eat one small meal a day, and fathers desperately searching for jobs that have disappeared. Young girls are being married off as their parents can’t afford to feed them. There are markets with food but people can’t afford to buy it as they can’t find jobs and can’t get money. The economic crisis must urgently be addressed to save lives.
“But we also meet incredibly inspiring young girls who want to grow up to be doctors, teachers and judges and shape the future of Afghanistan. With the right support now from the international community, their future can still be much brighter. But in the current situation many young people are increasingly fearful about what their future holds.
“Afghan women and men want a better future for their children and are doing everything they can to make that happen in incredibly difficult circumstances. But they need the world’s support. A new international approach to Afghanistan is urgently needed – one that builds on the positive impact of humanitarian aid, gets the economy back on its feet and ensures that people can access cash, educate their children, find jobs and feed their families. The Afghan people don’t want to have to rely on aid, they want to build a future.”
One 15-year-old girl, Reyhana*, told Islamic Relief: “My parents have no money, our neighbours have no money, I can’t go to school, there are no jobs. What is out future?”
The report also calls for donors to scale up cash-based programming as a core part of the humanitarian response. Cash transfers can provide people with the liquidity they need to feed, clothe and shelter their families, while also stimulating local markets and boosting the local economy – especially for female-headed households. Islamic Relief and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) recently launched a major new partnership to create jobs, inject cash and support small businesses across Afghanistan.
Notes
Islamic Relief has worked in Afghanistan since 1999 and currently works in 11 provinces across the country, as well as responding to emergencies in other parts of the country as needed, such as the June 2022 earthquake in Paktika. We provide people with life-saving humanitarian aid, supports long-term sustainable livelihoods, provides essential basic healthcare and nutrition services, and improves access to education for girls and boys.
