The Taliban government’s restrictions on women have reduced their participation in the labor market (file).
Kabul, Afghanistan:
Despite three years of improved security following the end of the Taliban insurgency, Afghanistan’s economy remains stagnant and its population is in the grip of a worsening humanitarian crisis.
A third of Afghanistan’s approximately 40 million inhabitants live on bread and tea. According to the United Nations, there is enormous unemployment and the World Bank warns of zero growth in the next three years.
But there have been some positive changes since the Taliban takeover in 2021 – even though their government is not recognized by any other country.
The currency has proven resilient, corruption is no longer pervasive and tax collection has improved.
According to Ahmad Zahid, Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, authorities have also built “economic, commercial, transit and investment ties” in the region.
Afghanistan has great mineral and agricultural potential, which the Taliban government is trying to exploit, but they are hampered by poor infrastructure and a lack of domestic and foreign expertise and capital.
Although Afghans welcome the improved security in their lives, many are just trying to make ends meet.
AFP spoke to four people from different parts of the country this week ahead of the anniversary of the fall of Kabul:
The optimistic businessman
Things are going well for 54-year-old Azizullah Rehmati: his saffron company in the western province of Herat will double production this year.
Until 2021, his ‘Red Gold Saffron Company’ hired armed guards to escort the valuable spice from the factory to the airport, but the improved security environment has removed the need for such overt protection.
“Now there is no problem,” says Rehmati, who exports to 27 countries.
In his processing factory, women use tongs to sort the red stigmas of the precious saffron spice.
The Taliban government’s restrictions on women have reduced their labor force participation, but Rehmati’s company is among the 50 percent of Afghan employers who still hire women.
Yet a key challenge for Rehmati – and for Afghanistan as a whole – is the paralyzed banking sector.
“It is so important that banking channels are reopened,” said Sulaiman Bin Shah, deputy minister of commerce under the previous government.
The sector has been blocked by international sanctions and central bank asset freezes.
Rehmati’s bank cannot send money abroad – or receive transfers – meaning he has to resort to more expensive private money changers in Dubai.
Obtaining visas for foreign travel is also a major problem.
Many foreign countries have closed their embassies in the wake of the Taliban takeover and Afghan passports are rated the worst in the world by the Henley Index, which measures global travel ease.
“We will fall back from the global market,” Rehmati said.
The unemployed musician
Wahid Nekzai Logari played in the Afghan national orchestra and gave concerts on the sarinda, a traditional stringed instrument, and on the harmonium.
“I supported my whole family. We had a good life,” the 46-year-old said at his modest home in a Kabul suburb.
But the Taliban government has banned public performances of music, deeming them un-Islamic, leaving thousands involved in the industry destitute.
“Now I’m unemployed,” Logari said.
To feed his family of seven, he sometimes drives a taxi, earning just 5,000 afghans a month ($70), a fifth of what he used to earn from his concerts.
“Nobody told us, ‘You can’t play music anymore, but we’ll find a way to feed your family,’” he said.
The rebel turned bureaucrat
Abdul Wali Shaheen wanted to “die a martyr’s death” in the ranks of the Taliban, but after their victory he exchanged his rocket launcher for a computer at the Ministry of Information and Culture in Ghazni province.
“I wasn’t as stressed (then) as I am now,” the 31-year-old said wryly.
“All we did was wage jihad, now it’s more difficult. I have more responsibilities to the people.”
Still, Shaheen’s monthly salary of 10,000 Afghanis is enough to feed his family of five, and he is happy with the direction the country is heading.
“I give the emirate a 10/10 for these three years,” he said.
“Everything is going well and we have hope for the future.”
The hidden beautician
The order to close beauty salons last year “broke her heart”, but Sayeda – not her real name – secretly reopened elsewhere in Kabul four months ago.
“We found this place to rent, on the condition that customers come very discreetly and that some of our employees sleep here, so that neighbors think a family lives here,” said the 21-year-old manager.
“We used to have thirty to forty customers a day, now there are six or seven,” says Sayeda, who has retained her 25 employees so that “everyone has an income.”
Sayeda’s salary has fallen from 25,000 Afghans per month to between 8,000 and 12,000.
“We are working in hiding and we don’t know for how much longer,” she said, pointing out the risk they could be closed down by police.
Once they found “a number of (underground) salons, they destroyed the equipment, abused the staff” and imposed fines, she said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
