Job lost, middle class Afghans slide into poverty, hunger

Kabul: Not long ago, Ferishta Salihi and her family had enough for a decent life. Her husband was working and earned a good salary. She could send several of her daughters to private schools. But now, after her husband lost his job following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, she was lined up with hundreds of other Afghans, registering with the U.N.'s World Food Program to receive food and cash that her family desperately needs just for survival.

"We have lost everything. We've lost our minds," Salihi said after her registration was complete. With her was her eldest daughter, 17-year-old Fatima, whom she had to take out of school. She can't afford to pay the fees at a private school, and the Taliban so far are not allowing teenage girls to go to public schools.

"I don't want anything for myself, I just want my children to get an education," Salihi said.

In a matter of months as Afghanistan's economy craters, many stable, middle-class families like Salihi's have plummeted into desperation, uncertain of how they will pay for their next meal. That is one reason the United Nations is raising alarm  over a hunger crisis, with 22% of the population of 38 million already near famine and another 36% facing acute food insecurity - mainly because people can't afford food.

The economy was already in trouble under the previous, U.S.-backed government, which



often could not pay its employees. The situation was worsened by the coronavirus pandemic and by a punishing drought that drove up food prices. Already in 2020, nearly half of Afghanistan's population was living in poverty.

Then the world's shutdown of funding to Afghanistan after the Taliban's Aug. 15 seizure of power pulled the rug out from under the country's small middle class. International funding once paid for much of the government budget — and without it, the Taliban have largely been unable to pay salaries or provide public services. The international community has not recognized Taliban rule, demanding the militants form a more inclusive government and respect human rights.

International aid also fueled projects around the country that provided jobs, most of which are now on hold. The country's banks are cut off from the international banking system, further snarling the private sector. The country's economy is estimated to have contracted 40% in just three months.

Hospitals are seeing increasing numbers of emaciated, malnourished children, mostly from the country's poorest families who were already barely getting by.

Now families that have seen their once-stable livelihoods wrecked also find themselves with nothing and must scrape for ways to cover costs of food, rent and medical expenses.