![]() ![]() 19.Ĭhildren play on the hills above Kabul on Sept. Otherwise, we’re heading towards a deep recession.”Ĭhildren play on the hills above Kabul on Sept. If that’s the case, our problems could be solved. “We need the world-and especially the Western countries-to recognize the Taliban as a government. ![]() “Complete economic failure” is not the likeliest scenario, said an official at the Ministry of Finance. ![]() agencies and nonprofits would contract and pay local traders to deliver services instead of bringing in their own staff. While $1.2 billion in humanitarian aid has been pledged to Afghanistan, the funds would barely help the country’s economy recover, unless U.N. The source added that domestic sources of revenue-such as customs, tax receipts, and people paying for government services-had dropped significantly since the Taliban’s takeover. What remains in the Ministry of Finance’s treasury is an estimated 10 billion to 20 billion afghanis (worth something like $110 million to $220 million at current, highly variable, exchange rates), which is used to keep minimum services running and to pay civil servants, a government source speaking on the condition of anonymity said. Recently, new appointments were made to fill positions at the ministries of finance, economic affairs, and commerce and industry, but funds are running dry. Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said the group was “working day and night” to address the country’s economic challenges. If we stayed here, we’d soon be begging, too.” “Everything collapsed within the last month,” Hamdard said. So the 18-year-old, together with his parents and siblings, decided to ditch Kabul for their native Laghman province, where the cost of living would be cheaper and where they might eke out sheer survival just a little longer. The Hamdard family’s cosmetic studio went out of business as customer numbers declined with the rise of the Taliban and as life in the capital turned too expensive. Beggars roamed between the vendors, their hands extended, pleading for money and food. On a busy, traffic-jammed Kabul road in late September, Ziaullah Hamdard was one of dozens of people selling off all their household possessions. 2 say the currency has inflated and deflated heavily in recent weeks. Money vendors in Kabul’s Mandai market on Sept. 1 in hopes of accessing cash as funds are frozen. Women line up outside Western Union in Kabul on Sept. Agriculture, the biggest source of employment, has taken a double whammy from rampant insecurity in the countryside and widespread droughts. Many small businesses have folded, stung by banking sector paralysis, rising inflation, and difficulty acquiring cash. Within a month of the Taliban takeover in August, more than 150 media outlets stopped operating, the local news channel Tolo reported, dealing a death blow to what had been one of the most vibrant media landscapes in the region. “Afghanistan is on the verge of becoming a failed state, and the Taliban-still under international sanctions-is sleepwalking into a crisis that is going to get them an irreversible outcome,” said Haroun Rahimi, an economist and assistant law professor at the American University of Afghanistan.Īfghanistan’s licit economy is dominated by services and agriculture-both of which have taken a hit already. Almost every Afghan could be at risk of sinking below the poverty line next year, the United Nations Development Program warned. Under the previous Taliban regime just over two decades ago, Afghans were thrown into economic turmoil, with many living on the brink of starvation as little aid trickled in. ![]() The country still needs to import billions of dollars’ worth of goods, but it has even fewer options to earn money from exports than before, and it has a hard time physically getting remittances from Afghans abroad. The afghani, the local currency, has plummeted in value and has been displaced in many parts of the country by the more stable Pakistani rupee-previously used in many parts of eastern and southern Afghanistan. The Taliban regime, still without international recognition, can’t manage access to $10 billion in assets held overseas by the Afghan central bank. KABUL-Since the Taliban takeover, Afghanistan has been plunged into an economic and financial crisis that has paralyzed banks and businesses, sent poverty and inflation rates skyrocketing, and threatens to undermine the new Taliban government almost from its inception.įoreign aid, which previously made up about three-quarters of the government budget, has all but evaporated. ![]()
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