By Hassan Reza Rezaye

The Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan has brought fundamental changes to the governmental system of the last two decade. It has wrecked major developmental infrastructures and people are now dealing with even more severe challenges in their daily lives. Yet the Taliban’s de facto government lacks the ability to prevent further devastation in the country. To overcome the current economic, social, and political turmoil in Afghanistan, they require the international community’s assistance. The international community seem willing to cooperate with the de facto authorities to a certain extent.

As of August 2022 they maintained some contact to facilitate humanitarian aid. However, the Taliban repeatedly contradicts the terms proposed by international community and that which was enshrined in the Doha treaty. Since the Taliban’s takeover, there have been numerous drawbacks for the people of Afghanistan as a result of their governance. Hence, the people are affected in many ways; increased unemployed, the marginalization of women and highly numbers of internally displaced people, along with those leaving the country, which has led to extreme brain drain.

Unemployment

Since the Taliban started governing the country, unemployment has been a key concern. In other words, after the former regime's fall in 2021, countless individuals have suffered from job loss. This can be linked to the cessation of NGOs and developmental organization’s operations in Afghanistan; the majority of the local businesses shutting down due to the resulting economic crisis; concerns about future uncertainty, and an unwillingness to invest in the private sector.

Based on findings by the National Statistic and Information of Afghanistan (NSIA), the eligibility rate for employability within the 34.4 million population of Afghanistan is 49.7 percent. Considering this percentage, 538,000 people in the first three months, and  900,000 people in the second three months, were estimated to be unemployed in 2022. What could be more threatening is the expansion of the current humanitarian crisis as there is a substantial risk of increased poverty due to a lack of jobs. A record of 28.3 million people—two-thirds of the population— are in need of humanitarian and protection assistance in 2023.

Women

The Taliban’s decree banning female education and work has severely marginalized and isolated women from the social, economic, and political aspects of society. One of the paramount achievements in the last two decades, under the democratic government, was women’s empowerment and their wide participation in various fields and sectors. However, under the Taliban, they have been completely deprived of their basic rights.

Based on a report by Claire Mills and et al., by limiting women’s activities the Taliban is trying to make them invisible from society, and this is also asserted by the UN Special Rapporteur. Moreover, women’s access to education, jobs, and even the public sphere for travel and medical care has been decimated. Almost 80% of girls in Afghanistan are not allowed to attend secondary school.

Women’s marginalization has resulted in further devastating consequences. Besides the education ban, women’s suspension from offices and the job market would bring long-term economic challenges, since half of the human capital running the economy are women. With that mentioned, almost all female-headed households cannot bring in an income anymore. Losing such a vital source of income by both male and female-headed households is resulting in a severe human crisis.

Ninety-seven percent of the population’s living conditions went below poverty line by the end of 2022, and a considerable number of households that could previously support themselves are now dependent on humanitarian aid (International Rescue Committee). Above all, women have been suffering significantly from the Taliban’s governance which could bring about widespread calamities in their lives.  

Displacement

Internal displacement and outward migration is thought to be one of the main impacts of the Taliban regime. The experience of people under the first Taliban regime in 1990s, stemming from the group’s extremist ideology and current unfair policies, resulting in a humanitarian crisis has left people with no option but to leave the country. People are now dealing with unemployment; poverty; women’s rights abuses. Hanh Nguyen has argued that targeted violence and armed conflict made people move internally to other part of the country. The United Nations Assistance in Afghanistan (UNAMA) recorded 2,206 civilian casualties after the fall of the former government until Jun 15, 2022; this led to displacement of 3.4 million people in Afghanistan.

Alongside internal displace, people have also been leaving the country to find safety overseas shelter. Documentation by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees illustrates that in addition to 8 million Afghans refugee, over 1.8 million Afghans have arrived in neighboring countries since August 2021. Leaving the country will thus give rise to brain drain.

With no human capital, primary infrastructure will cripple. Michael Scollon asserts the same claim as Dr. Waheda Mehran, the co-director of the Center for Advanced International Studies (CAIS) at the University of Exeter, that thousands of highly skilled and educated Afghans consisting of doctors, engineers, judges, lawyers and journalists could leave Afghanistan. Furthermore, the health, education, security, and judicial sectors are now severely affected by the loss of human capital which is disastrous for Afghanistan.

To conclude, since the return of the Taliban to power in August 2021 people have been acutely and negatively impacted by their governance. Many people are now unemployed. They are seeking jobs, but are not succeeding in finding work. Women have been degraded and their fundamental rights are constantly being undermined. Furthermore, the Taliban’s constraints and harsh approaches towards civilians is compelling many Afghans to leave the country. While the repressive regime continues on its current path, the people of Afghanistan will further suffer from a deteriorating humanitarian crisis and violations of their basic rights.

Hassan Reza Rezaye is a freelance researcher. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Business and Economics. He possess extensive knowledge in economic principles and business management, and is currently pursuing a statistical reasoning and data analysis course.

Academicians and Officials interested to publish their academic pieces on this page, please approach us through: opinions@aissonline.org.
The article does not reflect the official opinion of the AISS.