Afghanistan's Economy Crashed Since Taliban Takeover: Report

Afghanistan's economy has crashed since the Taliban's take over of Kabul in mid-August, plunging the country into one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, said a media report.

Writing in New York Times, Christina Goldbaum said that "three months into the Taliban's rule, Afghanistan's economy has all but collapsed, plunging the country into one of the world's worst humanitarian crises."

In her report, Goldbaum said that millions of dollars of aid that once propped up the previous government has vanished, billions in state assets are frozen and economic sanctions have isolated the new government from the global banking system. Now, Afghanistan faces a dire cash shortage that has crippled banks and businesses, sent food and fuel prices soaring, and triggered a devastating hunger crisis.

The Taliban entered Kabul on August 15, causing the US-backed government to step down. Later in September, the outfit announced the composition of the new interim government of Afghanistan.

The country is currently battered by the deepening economic, humanitarian, and security crisis following the Taliban takeover.

Earlier this month, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that around 3.2 million children were likely to suffer from acute malnutrition in Afghanistan by the end of the year -- one million of whom were at risk of dying as temperatures drop.

Goldbaum further said, "In the capital, desperate families have hawked furniture on the side of the road in exchange for food. Across other major cities, public hospitals do not have the money to buy badly needed medical supplies or to pay doctors and nurses, some of who have left their posts. Rural clinics are overrun with feeble children, whose parents cannot afford food. Economic migrants have flocked to the Iranian and Pakistani borders."

The report highlighted the aid provided to Afghanistan. Goldbaum wrote, In recent weeks, the United States and the European Union have pledged to provide USD 1.29 billion more in aid to Afghanistan and to Afghan refugees in neighbouring countries. But aid can do only so much to fend off a humanitarian catastrophe if the economy continues to crumble, economists and aid organizations warn.

"No humanitarian crisis can be managed by humanitarian support only," said Abdallah Al Dardari, the United Nations Development Program's resident representative in Afghanistan. "If we lose these systems in the next few months, it will not be easy to rebuild them to serve the essential needs of the country. We are witnessing a rapid deterioration to the point of no return," the report said.

By the middle of next year, as much as 97 per cent of the Afghan population could sink below the poverty line, the report cited an analysis by the United Nations Development Program.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)