22/08 • AFGHANISTAN

Looking back on Afghanistan

Three years after the Taliban’s takeover, Afghanistan remains in turmoil with widespread human rights violations, particularly against women and girls.

After fighting an insurgent war for almost 20 years, the Taliban stepped into a power vacuum created by the withdrawal of the United States and its allies from the country in August 2021. A decisive campaign saw the militant Islamist group seize Kabul, and effectively the rest of Afghanistan.  Though the "War on Terror" in Afghanistan had ended, a new era of militaristic and fundamentalist Islamist rule under the Taliban began.

Three years on, the country remains in turmoil that is largely absent from any current news cycles.

From an economic perspective, Afghanistan has been heavily reliant on foreign aid. Before the collapse of the previous government, around 40% of the country's GDP was from foreign aid, which funded over half of the total $6 billion annual government budget and 75-80% of public spending.

The Taliban government is diplomatically unrecognised by virtually every country in the world. While some embassies operate in the country, foreign aid and humanitarian assistance has rapidly declined in the wake of this diplomatic and economic isolation. This is also due to the misappropriation of aid funding, which rarely makes it to those who actually need it.

Compounding on economic instability is the growing depression of the rights of women and girls. They have had a marked decline in their freedom of education and employment. In December 2022, women were banned from studying at universities (with education for girls over 12 "indefinitely postponed"). Since September 2021, 1.1 million girls and young women have been denied a formal education.

Women were also banned from working for NGO's in December 2022, precipitating many NGO's to pause operations in Afghanistan due to sinking support in the context of growing donor fatigue. With NGO and humanitarian funds drying up, the state can no longer adequately service vital infrastructure costs like health, water and sanitation. Hundreds of health facilities have closed since 2021.

The impeding of female personnel to work and provide services is one of the many deep roots of this problem. The country is facing a significant skilled labour shortage.

Given the tight control the Taliban have over dissent and opposition, it's difficult to gain a clear picture of the situation in the country. Prospects for peace and stability remain uncertain, and the world is now at an uneasy impasse faced with the difficult task of finding a "... politically palatable middle ground between two bleak alternatives—engaging with the Taliban to assist the Afghan people or isolating Afghanistan and abandoning its vulnerable population."

Prayer points: 

We pray for the people and country of Afghanistan, whose history has been heavily coloured by war, conflict, violence and political uncertainty

We pray for the women and girls of Afghanistan who have been stripped of the fundamental rights that they could once access freely

We pray for the leaders of the Taliban, that compassion and provision for their people would be their first and foremost priority

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