Hikmat Noori is an Afghan journalist reporting on the conflict, politics, development and culture in Afghanistan.
A year ago, 39-year-old Mohammad Rashid Anwari had it all: a successful business, a growing family and resources that allowed him to be a pillar of support for his community in Kabul through his charity work.
But when the Afghan government collapsed last August, as the Taliban pressed toward its eventual takeover of the country, Mr. Anwari watched his family’s lives collapse, too. As foreign companies and investment withdrew from the country, his business – which provided supplies to international and local non-governmental organizations – struggled to stay afloat before his business partner took what remained and fled the country.
“I lost everything when the Taliban took over Kabul,” he shared with me. “Overnight, I became a beggar.” He told me that his family is one small crisis away from absolute poverty.
“We can no longer afford rent, utilities, school fees, books and clothes for the children,” said his wife, Nazanin Anwari, 37. “Our meals are sparse, and this past Eid was the first time in months we had meat thanks to the charity of others. We raised our children with certain comforts, but now we can’t even afford to meet their basic needs. It is not fair to them, they did nothing to deserve this.”
The Anwaris aren’t alone. Afghanistan’s extreme poverty is perhaps most visible in the crowds that stand outside the bakeries, hoping to grasp a piece of bread bought by a charitable passerby. But events since the Taliban takeover have forced members of the former middle class – the onetime success story of the U.S.-led coalition’s invasion – to also compete for scraps with already poor Afghans, who are now even worse off than they were before.
The country has been plunged into an economic crisis. When Washington froze Afghanistan’s central bank assets and non-governmental organizations withdrew, the country’s institutions and systems collapsed, complicating imports and exports of necessary goods. International sanctions on the Taliban have only further contributed to financial instability for families; inflation and unemployment have surged.
For years before the takeover, a small-but-thriving middle class had risen on the strength of Afghanistan’s private sector. Largely backed by foreign aid, the private sector grew steadily for two decades, and was hailed as a success story. Despite insecurities, political instability, COVID-19 and other challenges, it was at one time even expected to contribute to small economic recoveries when the pandemic subsides.
But that was before the Taliban took over. According to a World Bank report, the private sector has experienced a significant drop in business operations, market demands and employment. At least one in three businesses has at least temporarily ceased operations. The rest have engaged in severe downsizing, reduced operations or even taken out loans from informal and unregulated institutions. Needless to say, women-operated businesses have been among the worst affected, with more than 40 per cent forced to shutter and 83 per cent facing revenue losses.
According to the International Labor Organization, employment in Afghanistan contracted by more than half a million workers – 8 per cent of the work force – in the first three months after the Taliban takeover. Again, it was worse for female workers, with a 16-per-cent drop in employment attributed largely to “newly imposed restrictions on women’s economic participation.”
With all these crises, it is no surprise that people’s purchasing power has plunged significantly. Nearly 82 per cent of the businesses surveyed by the World Bank reported a “drastic drop” in consumer demand, forcing them to further reduce operations and thereby creating a vicious circle of unemployment and poverty.
Despite its lack of vision and governance experience, the Taliban does seem to realize the importance of a robust private sector. While the group’s return to power has reversed years of economic momentum, it is now working to attract international investments. But through its fundamentalist policies – some of which are actively detrimental to the overall health of the economy – the sanction-riddled pariah group has proven unwilling to comply with international humanitarian laws and values. It is thus unlikely their efforts will yield the stability needed to rebuild the country’s middle class any time soon.
And so, valuable employers in the Afghan economy, such as the Anwaris, struggle to make ends meet and keep their entrepreneurial spirit alive. For his part, Mr. Anwari moves around the city seeking work as a trained electrician. “No one is hiring, otherwise I am a very good electrician,” he said. “But fact is that common Afghans can no longer afford to fix their houses any more.”
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