“The situation of Afghan women is tragic but they continue to fight!”

On August 15, 2021, the Taliban entered Kabul and regained control of Afghanistan. Three years after coming to power, the Islamic fundamentalists celebrated the reconquest of the country with a large military parade on August 14, 2024.

To understand the social and economic situation in Afghanistan, The Pilgrim was able to reach two Westerners who live under the Taliban regime and prefer to remain anonymous.

A bloodless economy

The economic situation is now catastrophic in this country hit by international sanctions. While Afghanistan depended on official development assistance, at 40% of its GNP, donor states stopped all funding in 2021. The United States and Europe have also frozen the reserves of the Afghan central bank. “Banking transactions have become almost impossible in Afghanistan,” explains a former Western diplomat, who was posted to the country. “Afghans must therefore resort to informal systems, such as those used for drugs, terrorist financing and other illegal activities.”

The circulation of liquidity is reduced and access to employment too. “In the formal economy, it is estimated that one million jobs will be lost between 2022 and 2023, while there are around 38 million inhabitants,” continues the former diplomat. The poverty rate, which reached 50% at the time of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, has now climbed to 80% of the population. “Families are wondering what they are going to put on their child’s plate,” says Ella*. “Many Afghans live on bread and tea.”

In the countryside, farmers are losing part of their harvests due to global warming, which is leading to successive years of drought. The end of public development aid is not helping the situation. “But the Taliban have embarked on a huge 285 km long canal project to irrigate 550,000 hectares,” explains the former diplomat. “They have already completed the first part, 110 km. The aim is to respond to this water crisis but also to be more politically present in the north of the country and to gain popularity.”

Women’s rights increasingly restricted

At the moment, the Taliban have inspired more fear among Afghans. The morality police, also called “Prevention of vice – propagation of virtue”, monitors the population, and imposes the compulsory wearing of the veil on women. Afghan women have been progressively deprived of their fundamental rights as the Taliban have closed secondary schools for girls and banned their access to higher education.

“Some of the girls secretly take informal courses, online, through the radio, or at home,” explains Ella*. “But they wonder what use it is to them, they won’t have a valid diploma. Young women see that they don’t have much of a future and many of them fall into depression. They are also getting married earlier and earlier.”

Some women continue to move around alone, but they no longer have access to parks or public gardens. They are also not allowed to hold public jobs or work in an NGO. They can, however, continue to work in the private sector and some set up their own small businesses, from home. “Beauty salons are now banned,” Ella continues. “Despite this, many beauticians manage to work in secret. The situation of Afghan women is tragic, but they continue to fight!”