Taliban Leads Afghanistan into Economic Crisis
The Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan has garnered a lot of attention. Much of the attention has been centered around the predicted loss of human rights that will follow the reign of the Taliban as well as the debate surrounding the U.S. leaving the country. However, the risk that the Taliban takeover has on the Afghan economy is one that strikes concern. Under the Taliban’s rule, Afghanistan’s local businesses will suffer and prices will continue to suffer inflation as the Taliban scrapes the bottom of their funds.
Afghanistan cannot afford any more hits on its economy. The country is on the precipice of its second drought in four years and the already high number of food-insecure citizens continues to grow. According to the World Food Programme, out of 40 million people, 14 million Afghan citizens are food insecure. As this drought hits, it will not only increase the number of those who are food insecure. Desperate for food, Afghan citizens are being forced to sell their livestock and personal belongings and move to displacement sites in order to afford the already incredibly scarce amounts of survival resources.
The inability to grow and produce the same level of food before the drought is not the only thing that is threatening the lives of the Afghan people and the economy. It is also the lack of resources the Taliban has to run a stable economy. The Taliban is said to only have enough resources to be able to execute a revolt, however, they lack the support of the global economy. The resources that the Taliban has already and also through support is simply not enough to survive. This is because the Taliban has little to no chance of accessing Afghanistan’s $10 billion reserve in Afghanistan’s central bank that is protected by the U.S. Government in New York. Afghanistan is also a cash-based economy. However, following the Taliban takeover, Afghanistan’s currency, the Afghani, has fallen to record lows and key figures like Afghanistan’s governor of their central bank, Ajmal Ahmad, has fled the country. Because of the chaos that ensued after the Taliban takeover, fear is driving the citizens to withdraw money and the banks cannot keep up. As the country and the banks suspend money transfers, the citizens of Afghanistan are unable to receive personal remittances from their families. (NBC News) Personal remittances make up 4% of Afghanistan’s GDP. This is just the beginning. With the Taliban’s power growing in Afghanistan, it is projected that Afghanistan’s economy will continue to suffer.
With one radical group taking over, the problems and heartache root far deeper than politics. The economy of Afghanistan is on the edge of falling and the people are hungry for help. This helps put into perspective how important a stable economy is to provide people with basic human rights and satisfy basic human needs.
