Sunday October 24th 2021
Fight unemployment
Taliban want to pay workers with wheat
Since the Taliban came to power, Afghanistan’s economy has continued to deteriorate. People cannot find work and every third Afghan is threatened with starvation. The government has therefore announced a new employment program. But the workers are not supposed to get any money.
The Taliban government in Afghanistan has announced an employment program to reduce unemployment and hunger. As the government spokesman Sabihullah Mujahid said at a press conference, thousands of unemployed people should take part in employment measures and receive wheat in return. “This is an important step in the fight against unemployment,” said the spokesman. However, the participants would have to “work hard”. They shouldn’t get any money.
In the capital Kabul alone, 40,000 men are expected to take part in the two-month program. A total of 11,600 tons of wheat are planned for this. In the rest of the country, 55,000 tons of wheat are to be distributed. The new program targets the unemployed, who are particularly at risk of starvation in winter. They are supposed to dig water channels and catch basins in order to mitigate future droughts.
Afghanistan is heavily dependent on foreign aid, which has been scaled back sharply since the radical Islamic militia came to power in August. The UN warns of an impending famine for a large part of the population, including millions of children, in winter. The country is struggling with a drought, an economic crisis and power outages.
Economy on the verge of collapse
After the Taliban came to power, Afghanistan’s economy is on the verge of collapse, according to the United Nations. The widespread humanitarian need, rising prices, frozen assets and discontinued development projects have led to a liquidity crisis with insufficient funds in cash, according to the Afghanistan representative of the World Food Organization WFP, Mary-Ellen McGroarty. It could only be a matter of weeks before the country’s economy collapsed.
“People will struggle to feed themselves and keep warm. I’ve been with the WFP for a long time and it’s the first time I’ve seen a crisis escalate as quickly as this one,” added McGroarty. In mid-August, the militant Islamist Taliban took power in Afghanistan. Since then, the country’s economic situation has continued to deteriorate. Every third Afghan is threatened with starvation.