Afghan economy is now on the verge of complete collapse. With the arrival of the Taliban (representatives of a terrorist organization banned in the Russian Federation), which blocked the flow of humanitarian aid, a severe drought and another wave of COVID-19, the population found itself on the verge of extreme poverty. Starving Afghans are being forced to take extreme measures, including selling some children for the survival of others.
BBC news reporter Yogita Limaye visited a village on the outskirts of Herat city and spoke to a mother who had to sell her young daughter to buy food for other children. The buyer, whose name was not disclosed, bought the girl for $500 (that's about 35,000 rubles at the current exchange rate). According to the stranger, he intends to raise her and marry her to his son, but of course there is no guarantee that a man will treat her well and keep his word.
So far, the Afghan gave the family a $250 deposit, which is enough to feed the family for several months. The man will give the rest when he comes to pick up the girl. So far, it has been decided that this will happen when the baby starts walking. “My children were dying of hunger, we were forced to sell our daughter,” the girl’s mother said in an interview with the BBC. How can I not be sad? This is my child. I would really like her to stay with me.”
The father of the family, who before the arrival of the Taliban earned money by collecting garbage, is now trying to find other sources of income. Now this is impossible. Businesses are closing, and those that are still “holding on” cannot pay wages to workers. Families have to sell everything they have to keep from starving, including their own children.
"No one knows what the future holds for our daughter," says the girl's father. "I don't know how she'll feel when we sold her, but I was forced to."
According to the forecast of the World Food Program, about half of the population - and this is approximately 23 million people - in the next few months may become acutely malnourished and die. Without immediate treatment, millions of children could die. The coming catastrophe is also mentioned in the report of the international organization Save The Children. According to activists, Afghan families now massively "sell what little they have to buy food, send small children to work or live on bread alone." Eight children starved to death in Kabul this week alone, according to the latest data. The minister of the mosque, Mohammed Ali Bamiyani, spoke about this situation. According to him, those who died within a few months first lost their father - the man died of cancer, and then his mother. Left alone, the children did not know how to get food and died of starvation.
According to The Daily Mail, world leaders are ready to provide $1 billion in financial assistance to Afghanistan, but do not yet know how to ensure that the funds are used for social causes, and not to replenish the Taliban's coffers. According to Alex Zerden, a former Treasury Department official and adviser to the Center for a New American Security, a quarter of Afghanistan's banks are state-owned, including the national bank, which is now under full Taliban control and cannot be changed yet.
Where did the Taliban come from (a terrorist organization banned in the Russian Federation), who and why was glad of his arrival, and what to expect from the new government for women - you can read in the comments of experts on the Afghan issue.
