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The Taliban marched through the streets and cries of victory were sung this Monday in Kabul, near the former American embassy, to celebrate the first anniversary of his return to power in Afghanistan.
Even if it appears that Afghanistan is on the verge of collapse. 365 days after the Taliban took power on August 15, 2021, all indicators are red. The economy in crisis, the unfunded health system, Malnourished children and women excluded from education and the world of work.
A crowd forms every afternoon outside the bakeries in the Afghan capital. Dozens of destitute residents beg for alms. Under their blue burqa, many women ask passersby to give them some naan (bread), competing with children and men who cater to customers.
The Taliban celebrate their year in power. Photo: EFE
97% poverty
In Afghanistan, poverty has hit hard in a country already devastated by 40 years of war. The poverty rate rose from 72% in 2021 to 97% in 2022.
Fatima is one of the people whose life has changed from poverty to extreme poverty. In her modest mud house, she pulls a bag of broken beans out of a drawer.
“This is all we have,” he says. “We were three months without being able to pay the rent, the electricity or even the water bills,” she adds.
A woman, in the hospital with her four-month-old twins. Photo: Lillian Suwanrumpha / AFP
Under the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, her husband had a shop that had to close due to lack of customers. Now he is a peddler and earns about 150 Afghanis a day, or 1.60 euros, which allows the family to buy a few loaves of bread every day, often his only meal accompanied by tea.
Malnutrition
Food distributions are organized throughout the country, but they are insufficient. Humanitarian organizations estimate that 95% of the population I don’t have enough to eat. In the country’s camps for internally displaced persons, where the population is among the most vulnerable, many children are malnourished.
In the Shahrak-e-sabz informal camp for internally displaced people in Herat, in the west of the country, Mahamat Yatim, a representative of the community, is concerned.
Children, victims of poverty and lack of food. Photo: Lillian Suwanrumpha / AFP
“Because there is not enough food, the children are getting weaker. Look, “she says, pointing the emaciated arm of a girl with a swollen belly and sunken cheeks.
“She’s seven and her sister next door is five, but she looks smaller than her. That’s because she’s malnourished. “” She hurts everything, “murmurs the girl, who spends the day sitting on the steps of her brick shelter, exhausted.
According to the UN, over one million Afghan children under the age of five they are at risk of malnutrition. Therapeutic feeding units across the country continue to be full.
An Afghan woman and her children come out to watch the festivities. Photo: Reuters
Sarah Vuylsteke, coordinator of the Doctors Without Borders project in Herat, sees an increase in the number of malnourished children over the past 12 months, but is also concerned malnutrition among pregnant women and infants, a growing phenomenon that directly affects children’s health.
The health system in danger
With increasing needs, the health system, weakened by 40 years of war, is under pressure.
With international sanctions in place since the Taliban took power, the health system, which depends almost entirely on international donors, suffers from a lack of resources and reduced health coverage.
The health system depends almost entirely on international donors. Photo: Suwanrumpha / AFP
The health centers have closed. Lots of medical personnel they resigned or left the countrywhich has reduced the pool of medical personnel trying to respond to emergencies.
The Taliban celebrate
But the Taliban are celebrating. “We respect the obligation of jihad e let’s free our countrysaid Niamatulah Hekmat, a fighter who entered Kabul a year ago.
On August 15, 2021, radical Islamists captured Kabul after a lightning-fast offensive against government forces, amid a shift in US foreign policy strategy, which ended his military intervention in the Asian country after 20 years and has focused more on its hegemonic dispute with China.
“We have fulfilled the obligation of jihad and liberated our country” Photo: Wakil Koshar / AFP
“Today is the day of victory and happiness for the Muslims and the Afghan people. It is the day of conquest and victory of the white flag “of the Islamic Emirate, Afghan government spokesman Bilal Karimi said on Twitter.
The chaotic withdrawal of foreign forces continued until 31 August with tens of thousands of people rushing to Kabul airport hoping to be evacuated on a flight out of Afghanistan.
This Mondaydeclared a holidayMany Taliban took selfies in Masud Square, a large rotunda adorned with the white flags of the Islamic Emirate, in front of the former American embassy, the AFP news agency reported.
“Long live the Islamic Emirate! Allah is great!”shouted the Taliban in this spontaneous concentration.
On the streets of Kabul, under a gray sky, traffic was scarce, although as usual Taliban armed patrols were spotted on vans and checkpoints, in the midst of rampant and extreme poverty.
Clarín editorial office with information from agencies and RFI, from Kabul
Source: Clarin
