Since the Taliban took over two years ago, Afghanistan has been facing a major humanitarian crisis.
Nearly 30 million people, which is two-thirds of the population, rely on foreign aid to survive. Job losses, money shortages, and rising prices make life difficult for millions. Children and women are hit the hardest.
Around 15.3 million people face severe food insecurity, and malnutrition has crossed the emergency levels in 25 out of the 34 provinces. This means more than half of children under five years of age and a quarter of pregnant and breastfeeding women are at high risk owing to malnutrition, leading to poor growth, weak immune systems, and increased disease risk.
The aid organizations are struggling to meet the growing needs; they require $4.6 billion to help 23.7 million people under the 2023 Afghanistan Humanitarian Response Plan, but lack of development aid to these organizations and refusal of the community to officially recognise the Taliban government pose major challenges.
Many believe the Taliban’s focus on fighting and terrorism has worsened the crisis. They argue that resources should be used to rebuild the economy, create jobs, and ease the suffering of the Afghan people.
Winter is approaching, and the situation is likely to get worse. Without quick action, the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan could become a disaster.
ents” toward getting girls back into classrooms, a senior UN official has said.
More than 28 million people depend on aid to survive in Afghanistan where the Taliban returned to power in 2021 after waging an insurgency against the U.S.-backed government in Kabul since 2001.
“Afghanistan remains the world’s largest humanitarian crisis in 2023, notwithstanding, of course, the recent devastating earthquakes in Turkiye and Syria,” Ramiz Alakbarov, UN Deputy Special Representative and Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan, told reporters in New York via video link from Kabul.
The UN and partners are seeking $4.6 billion this year to assist the Afghan population.
Alakbarov reported that over the past 18 months, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) declined by up to 35 percent, the cost of a basic food basket rose by 30 percent and unemployment by 40 percent.
Additionally, roughly 75 percent of people’s income is now spent just on food.
Meanwhile, the UN continues to engage with the de facto Taliban authorities in the aftermath of edicts banning girls from attending secondary school and women from working with local and international aid agencies on the ground.
“I regret to say that to date we haven’t seen any news or any encouraging developments with regard to girls’ education,” said Alakbarov. “The UN continues to advocate for this.”
Regarding humanitarian work, he noted that the Taliban have made exceptions for women’s participation in the health and education sectors following the visit by UN relief chief Martin Griffiths last month.
“The health sector exemptions on female participation include not just medical services delivery in the facilities, but also psychological support, community-based health activities and nutrition. And it is applied to all females working in offices, hospitals, health centres, or mobile teams,” he said.
The situation is similar for women teachers, including in providing community-based education through non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Although applicable at the national level, there are “a lot more localized solutions” which vary from province to province.
“Those localized solutions are always within the framework of what is the situation on the ground – that is the availability of mahrams (male guardians), availability of gender-segregated transportation, and application of the chador or hijab,” he said.
Alakbarov was asked about Taliban interference in aid delivery. He said distributions were stopped in “severe cases”, which occurred in at least two provinces over the past four months. They resumed once the issues were addressed.
“Most of the access incidents and what is leading to the temporary suspension of programs these days is related to the directives against Afghan women working for national and international NGOs, and those associated matters,” he said.
“It’s not related to security issues, and we continue to enjoy quite a good physical access throughout the country,” he added.
Alakbarov also addressed a question on how the UN ensures funding is not diverted to the Taliban. He outlined some of the risk management and mitigation mechanisms that are in place, such as payment verification systems and third-party monitoring.
Additionally, beneficiaries can also communicate with the UN through hotlines and other means, including “to raise complaints, or raise alarms, or be a whistleblower.”
The senior aid official also was asked about reported divisions within the Taliban leadership over the education and humanitarian bans, but he did not think it would be helpful to comment.
Instead, he stressed the need for the de facto authorities to ensure Afghan girls and women have the right to be full members of society, which includes being able to work, get an education, and access healthcare and other services.
