A year has passed since the taliban took power in Afghanistan on August 15, 2021, taking advantage of the hasty withdrawal of foreign forces led by the United States. Since then, the violence has subsided, but the humanitarian crisis has rapidly worsened in the country.
(Also read: Taliban shoot out a women’s demonstration in Afghanistan)
Poverty, more acute in the south, has reached a desperate level, accentuated by the drought and the increase in prices since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. “Since the Emirate (Taliban) is in power, we can’t even find oil”, laments a woman in a hospital in Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital of Helmand.
Although the economic problems began long before the Taliban’s return, the change in power placed the country of 38 million people on the brink of a precipice.
The US froze the central bank’s $9.5 billion in assets, the financial sector collapsed, and foreign aid, which represented 45% of the country’s GDP, was suddenly cut off.
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But the most worrying situation is evident in the rollback of human rights, especially those of women who have been practically erased from public life.
“We do not have essential public services, people and especially women have lost their jobs, girls have been expelled from education and the government’s support of NGOs has stopped or has been reduced,” says activist Zulia Parsi, of the Spontaneous Movement of Women Activists.
And it is that in addition to the imposition of the burqa or other similar clothing that completely covers the face or the veto for women to travel without a male escort on long journeys, since their return, the fundamentalists have deprived Afghan women of social rights and of access to work, prevented young women from accessing secondary education, and silenced protests, among the complaints of an international community that for the moment does not recognize the Government.
In a report published at the end of July, Amnesty International denounced that fundamentalists have “decimated the protection and support system for those fleeing domestic violence, detained women for minor breaches of discriminatory rules and contributed to an increase in the number of of child and forced marriages.
(Also: Taliban force all women to cover their bodies from head to toe)
The attacks on the press and the closure of dozens of media outlets have also marked the first year. According to a Reporters Without Borders (RSF) report, Afghanistan has lost 39.95% of its media outlets and 59.86% of its journalists.
“Of the 11,857 journalists counted before August 15, 2021, there are now only 4,759. Women are the most affected: 76.19% have lost their jobs”, indicated RSF.
(Keep reading: Girls in Afghanistan will not be able to go to school due to Taliban restriction)
People and especially women have lost their jobs, girls have been pushed out of education
Just this Sunday, the European Union regretted that the Taliban had “broken their promises to the Afghan people and the international community” and systematically violated rights.
However, in the face of criticism from the international community, the interim Taliban government has gone out of its way to repeat that the concerns are “unfounded” and that the restrictions imposed are “in accordance with the religious and cultural practices of the society” of the majority. muslim.
*With information from AFP and EFE
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