Starvation is as much a threat to Afghan women as the Taliban

COMMENTARY / World

Starvation is as much a threat to Afghan women as the Taliban

Barely able feed itself now, with female workers banned, the country will go hungrier

With so many men killed in the conflict, or fleeing the country, many women have been left as both single parents and the sole breadwinners supporting their families. | REUTERS

By David Fickling and Ruth Pollard
Bloomberg

Sep 19, 2021

One of the Taliban’s first acts after they swept to power in Afghanistan a month ago was to force most working women out of their jobs and into their homes.

That’s going to add to the risk of starvation facing the country after years of crop failures and the collapse of this year’s wheat harvest.

In an aid-dependent economy already in deep trouble, the sudden removal of tens of thousands of wage earners, many supporting large, extended families, only adds to the numbers facing hunger in a country where 47.3% live below the poverty line.