For Afghanistan, 2021 was punctuated by the chaos of a U.S. withdrawal and an uncertain next chapter. The Taliban, who were unseated as the country’s rulers by a U.S.-led coalition after the 9/11 attacks 20 years ago, could not be stopped by a collapsing Afghan military and Western-backed government that fled. They quickly took power back in mid-August.
Four months into Taliban rule, Afghanistan is facing a looming economic meltdown and humanitarian catastrophe. Billions of dollars’ worth of the country’s assets abroad, mostly in the U.S., have been frozen and international funding to the country has ceased.
The world is waiting before extending any formal recognition to the new rulers in Kabul, wary the Taliban could impose a similarly harsh regime as when they were in power 20 years ago — despite their assurances to the contrary.
However, security has improved under the Taliban, following their crackdown on crime, and humanitarian organizations say they can now reach parts of the country that were previously no-go areas.
The Taliban urge patience but some signs are worrisome: For instance, girls are not allowed to attend high school in most provinces, and though women have returned to their jobs in much of the health care sector, many female civil servants have been barred from coming to work.
The severe drought, now in its second year, has dramatically worsened the already desperate situation in the country. Battered by four decades of war, Afghans have also had to contend with the coronavirus pandemic and an economy in freefall following the freezing of international funding after the Taliban seized power in mid-August amid a chaotic withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops. Millions can’t feed themselves, and aid groups warn of rising malnutrition and a humanitarian catastrophe.
SANG-E-ATASH — fed by rain and snowmelt from mountains, this valley nestled among northwestern Afghanistan’s jagged peaks was once fertile. But the climate has changed in the last few decades, locals say, leaving the earth barren and its people struggling to survive.
Many have fled, heading to neighboring Iran or living in abject poverty in camps for the displaced within Afghanistan as repeated droughts parch the land and shrivel pastures.
Experts predict climate change will make droughts even more frequent and severe. They have been ringing the alarm bell over Afghanistan for years.
“Climate change in Afghanistan is not an uncertain, ‘potential’ future risk but a very real, present threat - whose impacts have already been felt by millions of farmers and pastoralists across the country,” said a 2016 report by the World Food Program, United Nations Environment Program and Afghanistan’s National Environmental Protection Agency. The current drought is the worst in decades.
The aid-dependent country’s economy was already teetering when the Taliban seized power in mid-August amid a chaotic withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops. The international community froze Afghanistan’s assets abroad and halted all funding, unwilling to work with a Taliban government given its reputation for brutality during its previous rule 20 years ago.
Many of Afghanistan’s growing number of destitute people are making desperate decisions - selling their children to survive such as these as their nation spirals into a vortex of poverty.