KABUL (SW) – The World Food Program has expressed concern about the rising poverty level in Afghanistan and has said that now about 20 million people do not have access to the necessary food.
The WFP director in Afghanistan, Hasiyao Wiley, told Sky News that Afghans are facing poverty and four million children and pregnant women are severely malnourished in Afghanistan alone. “We helped 23 million people last year, and now we need $800 million in emergency aid.”
At the same time, a number of Kabul citizens said they were also worried about the increase in unemployment and poverty in the country and said that the Islamic Emirate should provide work facilities to the people.
Jamshed, a resident of Kabul, who is the head of a family of four, said that he is forced to sell his household goods to meet the needs of his family. He said: “There have been days when I have worked for less than 100 afghanis and the whole family has gone to bed hungry. There is no business and today poverty and unemployment have increased.”
Another resident of Kabul, Parvez, who is the head of a family of six, said that although he is a law student at Kabul University, he is forced to sell ice cream on the streets of Kabul.
However, the spokesman of the Ministry of Economy, Abdul Rahman Habib, said that the economic situation in the country has improved this year compared to the previous one. He added that in order to reduce the level of poverty, big projects are being planned this year, which will provide work facilities to many people.
This is while the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has said that more than 24 million people in Afghanistan are living in a bad situation and many Afghans are in need of humanitarian aid.
It is to be noted that after the Islamic Emirate’s ban on women’s work in the relevant UN agencies, the process of distribution of humanitarian aid has also been disrupted and is facing obstacles and delays.
ENDS
