Afghanistan under the Taliban: “Life is not the same anymore”

Everyday life in Afghanistan has become harder since the Taliban came to power, including in the city of Mazar-i-Sharif. The need of the people is great – and the supplies of the World Food Program are running out.

Ali Reza Amini is a pharmacist in Mazar-i-Sharif. Better not ask him how his business is doing these days. “With the Taliban, the economy plummeted. Business people and investors have fled and took their money with them, the banks are closed, some of the borders too, and there are many more unemployed.”

That also affects his business, says the pharmacist. “People are no longer coming, and some of our customers are only taking half the medication prescribed by the doctor. With the rise in the dollar, poor people can hardly afford them anymore. And so it will go on, people flee and social and.” the country’s economic situation is getting worse. ” How long, nobody knows.

Extensive aid deliveries are necessary

What the pharmacist means is easy to see – in the markets of the largest city in northern Afghanistan, which are much more extensive than before: an endless row of stalls, shown in a video by a local journalist. People sell their belongings because they want to emigrate or just out of sheer need.

Aid is urgently needed, says Ramiz Alakbarov from the United Nations Afghanistan Mission UNAMA. Fortunately, the city’s airport can be used again. “We were able to land in Mazar-i-Sharif with a plane – the first plane: 37.5 tons of medical supplies for 200,000 people, plus 600 tons of food. And the UN refugee commissioner also delivers other goods.”

Food only lasts until the end of September

At the end of June, the Bundeswehr had withdrawn from its camp at Mazar-i-Sharif airport. When the Taliban arrived three weeks ago, the airport manager fled too. In the meantime, they have taken his predecessor out of retirement. Now and then machines land again. But the current aid deliveries are just a drop in the ocean. Because not only in Mazar-i-Sharif, but in the whole country there is need. UNAMA coordinator Alakbarov warns:

By the end of September, the supplies of the World Food Program in the country will be exhausted. To meet current demand, we need at least $ 200 million just for the food sector so that we can provide food for the poorest.

“Life completely turned inside out”

The economy is down and a lot of people are doing badly as the Taliban celebrate their – as they say – independence. Pharmacist Ali Reza Amini gets furious again when asked about this new “Islamic Emirate”:

The whole thing turned our lives upside down. All the achievements of the past 20 years have been abolished by the Taliban, in whole or in part: freedom of expression, freedom of the press, women at work and so on. You are no longer allowed to listen to music, there are no more parties and life is no longer the same as it was three weeks ago. And from my point of view, as a not so godly person, life in a Taliban regime under the Islamic Sharia would be very hard. You haven’t started strictly enforcing Sharia law yet, but I know how it was 20 years ago. That’s why many Afghans just want to flee this country.