Afghanistan Hunger Crises: 'Families Sharing Food with Animals to Survive Here'

I'm a professor in Afghanistan. After the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021, our lives turned for the worst - mentally and financially.

My salary has been deducted by fifty per cent, and I have been forced to do odd jobs in the market, from selling vegetables to delivering goods, so that I can afford food for my family.

People in my country are dying of hunger and starvation, and the inflation rate is very high. I have seen people sell their homes and other materials to afford some kind of food.

The inflation is so high that wheat flour prices have soared up to 4,500 Afghani currency for 49 kgs, which was sold for 1000 Afghani currency earlier.

The Taliban has also increased the finance tax, resulting in collapsing shops and businesses.

The winter season is coming, and there will be snow; we need more resources to buy winter clothes, blankets, and food. We need to find out what is going on and where we are going.

For this intensive hunger and starvation, United Nations has distributed food only to Taliban fighters. We haven't received anything from them as of yet.

'No Opportunities, Safety or Food - We Want to Leave'

As we all know, the Taliban has banned women from schools and colleges. Women in the country cannot even step outside if a male member doesn't accompany them. The Taliban keeps justifying all of this in the name of Sharia. We, as Muslims, know this well that these rules are unjustified.

Talking about my job, there is so much uncertainty there as well, as the job I have at the University is also not permanent. Taliban wants to remove most of us from the position we are in right now.

They want to replace me because I studied in India, one such country they don't want to have any relations with.

One of the worst affected people by the Taliban takeover was the Afghanistan Army, as they lost their sole source of income. They're all left without jobs now. Many of my friends who were a part of the army have been severely affected. The situation is so grim that they are forced to eat animal food.

I see children and families on the roads begging for food as they don't have anything to eat. The crisis of food is increasing every day.

I want to leave the country for a better future and the safety of my family. I want to start a new life with my family, but the visa process has been closed since the Afghan government's fall. It feels like we're in jail.

There are no work opportunities, money, or food; we cannot go outside Afghanistan, so what can they even do?

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