2022 Year in Review

ECONOMIC HARDSHIPS
Afghanistan has experienced extreme economic consequences due to economic
mismanagement by the Taliban regime including sanctions applied by the
international community, and the loss of international aid. Although there were
pre-existing factors that contributed to the current crisis, the level of economic
distress that was produced as a direct result of the Taliban siege has been
recorded as the primary driver of the situation within Afghanistan.
The new leadership and their economic mismanagement has led to various
observable consequences. For instance, Afghanistan experienced a significant
loss of human capital. By the close of 2021, the UNHCR stated that 3.5 million
Afghans were internally displaced and around 2.6 million fled Afghanistan and
were hosted as refugees. A vast majority of those forcibly displaced were
reported to be women and children. Additionally, there was a significant loss of
skills and productivity due to the removal of women from the national economy.
The Taliban has heavily reduced and continues to severely regulate women’s
participation in the public and private sectors.
Further economic hardships can be felt by individual households across the
nation, with rising food and fuel prices, as well as other impacts stemming from
international sanctions and the termination of international aid. With great
increases in unemployment, increased food prices, and decreases in household
incomes, it has become difficult for families to afford and have access to basic
goods. The humanitarian crisis within Afghanistan is so distressing that the
International Rescue Committee has stated that it “could kill far more Afghans
than the past 20 years of war.” The majority of the nation is experiencing
insufficient food consumption and therefore has had to make difficult decisions
in order to survive. With a spike in economic hardships and diminished access to
social services and healthcare, among other factors, women and children are
two of the most threatened and impacted by this humanitarian crisis.
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