Just over three months after the Taliban took over Kabul, humanitarian organizations have warned of critical levels of poverty and famine in Afghanistan, which would be prompting families to sell young girls for weddings in an attempt to survive.
In addition, the United Nations (UN) warned, on Monday (22), that the increase in the portion of the population unable to repay loans, lower deposits and the contraction of liquidity could lead to a collapse of the financial system in the coming months, with “colossal” impacts.
According to the UN, 22% of the 38 million population of Afghanistan are already close to suffering from hunger, while 36% already face serious food insecurity, not being able to buy food.
UNICEF, the UN’s international emergency fund for children, expressed in a statement this month its “deep concern” at reports that child marriages are on the rise in the Asian country.
“We have received credible reports from families offering daughters up to 20 days of age for a future marriage in exchange for a dowry,” said the statement, signed by UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore.
Even before the current situation of political instability, the organization had already registered 183 marriages and 10 cases of sale of children in the years 2018 and 2019 in just two Afghan provinces, Herat and Baghdis. The children were between six months and 17 years old.
According to a Unicef estimate, 28% of Afghan women between the ages of 15 and 49 were married before reaching 18 years of age.
“The extremely difficult economic situation in Afghanistan is pushing more families into poverty and forcing them to make desperate choices, like putting their children to work and marrying girls at a young age,” the statement continues.
The risk of child marriages is even greater because most teenagers are not allowed to attend school. According to UNICEF, girls who marry before reaching the age of 18 are less likely to remain in school and are at greater risk of experiencing domestic violence, discrimination, abuse and mental health problems.
“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 basic food or clean water,” warns Unicef.
Farmers suffer from lack of food and seeds
The situation for farmers and herders in Afghanistan is “catastrophic”, with the increase in hunger, aggravated by the arrival of winter, warned the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) this week.
“The situation is disastrous. All the farmers we spoke to have lost almost all of their crops this year. Many have been forced to sell their herds, they have accumulated huge debts and they simply don’t have any money,” said Richard Trenchard, FAO’s representative in Afghanistan.
According to the UN agency, 18.8 million Afghans are unable to eat every day, and that number is expected to increase to close to 23 million by the end of the year.
The crisis began with a drought, which spread across Afghanistan and should continue to worsen in the country. Forecasts are for drier than normal conditions in the coming months, due to the weather phenomenon La Niña, and another year of drought in the country in 2022.
FAO warns that these conditions will create a real risk of famine next year if Afghanistan does not receive large-scale aid with the distribution of seeds, fertilizers and food.
Agriculture is the foundation of livelihood and critical to Afghanistan’s economy. According to FAO, about 70% of Afghans live in rural areas and 80% of their livelihoods depend on agriculture or livestock.
Financial system collapse
On a three-page report on Afghanistan’s banking and financial system, the UN Development Program (UNDP) stated that the economic cost of a bank collapse in the country and its negative social impacts would be “colossal”.
The report details the financial situation before the Taliban took power on Aug. 15, as well as the current situation for the past three months. The document describes a practically stagnant system, with humanitarian interventions compromised by the country’s liquidity crisis, aggravated by the lack of confidence on the part of depositors and international markets.
As soon as the Taliban seized power in Kabul, overthrowing the Western-backed government, the United States froze Afghanistan’s international reserves. Also, the abrupt withdrawal of most foreign aid after the arrival of the Taliban contributed to the free fall of the country’s economy and put pressure on banks, which imposed weekly limits on withdrawals.
Projections by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) cited in the report estimate a contraction of up to 30% of the Afghan economy for 2021 and 2022.
Total bank deposits dropped from $2.9 billion at the end of 2020 to $2 billion in September this year, according to the report. It is estimated that this total will drop to US$ 1.8 billion by the end of the year, a loss of around 40%.
“Without the banking sector, there is no humanitarian solution for Afghanistan,” said Abdallah Al Dardari, UNDP representative in the country. “Do we really want to see Afghans completely isolated?” he asked.
The report recommends a series of coordinated actions to address the situation, including a deposit guarantee scheme and measures to ensure liquidity in the short to medium term.
However, international sanctions against the Taliban hamper actions that could help to prevent a bank collapse. “We need to find a way to ensure that if we support the banking sector, we are not supporting the Taliban,” Al Dardari told Reuters.
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