Afghans Living in Poverty Rise in Number Under Taliban Rule, Says UN

The United Nations announced that Afghans living in poverty have increased from 19 million in 2020 to 34 million in 2022. The UN warned that restricting women’s rights will worsen the economic catastrophe in Afghanistan.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in a new report published on Tuesday said that the economic production of Afghanistan has fallen by about 20% after the Taliban’s return to power in 2021.

According to the UNDP report, despite some initial signs of economic recovery, including a relatively stable exchange rate, increased exports, increasing demand for labour, and reduced inflation, Afghanistan's GDP has declined by about 3.6 percent in 2022.

Abdallah Al Dardari, the UNDP country representative, said that the continuous provision of 3.7 billion dollars in foreign aid in 2022 has helped prevent the economic collapse of Afghanistan.

According to this report, of a total of 3.7 billion dollars in foreign aid in Afghanistan, 3.2 billion dollars have been provided by the United Nations.

This organisation has said that the aid has directly reached 26.1 million people and has also been effective in the stability of the Afghani currency and curbing inflation in Afghanistan.

The United Nations added that if the level of aid remains the same, Afghanistan's GDP will increase by 1.3 percent this year, but the prospects for long-term economic recovery will remain weak.

The United Nations has said that the Taliban's restrictive decrees on the rights of women and girls, including a directive that prohibits women from working in UN offices, directly affect economic productivity and can also affect the level of aid inflow in Afghanistan.

The United Nations Development Programme has predicted that if foreign aid is reduced by 30% from $3.7 billion to $2.6 billion, Afghanistan's GDP will fall by 0.6%, which could lead the country at the highest level of poverty in the world.