The Taliban entered Kabul on August 15, forcing the US-backed government to resign. (File)
Kabul:
Afghanistan’s economy has collapsed since the Taliban took over Kabul in mid-August, plunging the country into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, a media report says.
Writing in the New York Times, Christina Goldbaum said that “three months after Taliban rule, Afghanistan’s economy has completely collapsed, plunging the country into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.”
In his report, Goldbaum says that millions of dollars in aid that once supported the previous government have disappeared, billions of state assets have been frozen, and economic sanctions have isolated the new government from global banking system. Now, Afghanistan is facing a severe cash shortage that has paralyzed banks and businesses, sent food and fuel prices soaring, and triggered a devastating hunger crisis.
The Taliban entered Kabul on August 15, forcing the US-backed government to resign. In late September, the outfit announced the composition of Afghanistan’s new interim government.
The country is currently battered by a deepening economic, humanitarian and security crisis following the Taliban takeover.
Earlier this month, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that around 3.2 million children are likely to suffer from acute malnutrition in Afghanistan by the end of the year – one million of whom are at risk of dying from heatstroke. Reduction.
Goldbaum added, “In the capital, desperate families have sold their belongings by the roadside in exchange for food. In other major cities, public hospitals don’t have the money to buy the medical supplies they need. need or pay for doctors and nurses, some of whom have left their positions Rural clinics are flooded with frail children, parents cannot afford to eat Economic migrants have flocked to the border between Iran and Pakistan.”
The report highlights the aid provided to Afghanistan. In recent weeks, the United States and the European Union have pledged to provide an additional $1.29 billion in aid to Afghanistan and to Afghan refugees in neighboring countries, Goldbaum writes. However, economists and aid organizations warn that aid can only help combat a humanitarian disaster if the economy continues to shrink.
“No humanitarian crisis can be managed by humanitarian assistance alone,” said Abdallah Al Dardari, the United Nations Development Program’s resident representative in Afghanistan. “If we lose these systems over the next few months, it will not be easy to rebuild them to serve the vital needs of the country,” the report said. We are witnessing deterioration. so quickly that there’s no turning back.”
By the middle of next year, up to 97 percent of Afghanistan’s population could sink below the poverty line, the report cited analysis by the United Nations Development Program.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)
