Thirteen months ago, on 15 August 2021, the Taliban took control of Afghanistan’s capital city of Kabul. The country has undergone a lot of changes and crises in those days.
What’s been happening
According to a UN report, Afghanistan’s economy has remained stagnant since the Taliban took control of the country. Afghanistan’s weak economy has been reversed, which took ten years to achieve.
The Taliban seized power on 15 August last year, causing severe economic effects as the internal financial system froze and people waited in enormous lines outside banks for hours to withdraw money, which many did not get. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) released a report on Wednesday noting that the Afghan economy lost roughly USD 5 billion after the Taliban took control and had a gross domestic product of only about USD 20 billion before the Taliban took control.
Human rights breaches against women and girls have progressively increased over the last year. Despite earlier claims that women would be able to practice their Sharia law rights, including the freedom to work and study, the Taliban has consistently excluded women and girls from public life. The de facto administration has no cabinet positions for women and has disbanded the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, thereby eliminating women’s political participation. The Taliban has also prohibited girls from continuing their education past the sixth grade and women from working in most jobs outside the house.
According to a UNDP research, barring women from working might result in a loss of up to USD 1 billion, or up to 5% of the country’s GDP.
Also, according to the World Food Programme in Afghanistan, a poll performed in February and March revealed that approximately 19 million people are facing food insecurity and require food assistance and humanitarian help.
Going forward
Especially with women’s rights and education, the future seems bleak, but the coming days may show a difference, or will Iran’s revolution have any effect on Afghanistan?