With the worsening living crisis in Afghanistan and rising unemployment rates, the Taliban government launched an initiative today to combat hunger in the country, which involves working for food. The government presented a program aimed at addressing hunger and unemployment by providing thousands of jobs for the unemployed in exchange for wheat.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid stated during a press conference in southern Kabul that the program would be implemented in major Afghan cities and towns, allowing for employment opportunities for about 40,000 people in the capital alone. He emphasized the importance of this initiative in fighting unemployment, adding that those hired must "work hard."
Mujahid inaugurated the project alongside senior officials, including Minister of Agriculture Abdul Rahman Rashid and Kabul's mayor Hamdullah Namani, by cutting a pink ribbon and digging a small hole during a ceremony in the rural area of Rish Khor near the capital.
According to Agence France-Presse, the two-month program will distribute 11,600 tons of wheat in the capital, with around 55,000 tons allocated for other regions, including Herat, Jalalabad, Kandahar, and Mazar-i-Sharif. The workers' task in Kabul will involve digging water canals and constructing snow collection terraces on the hills to combat drought.
Afghanistan, which is grappling with poverty, drought, power cuts, and economic disruption, is now on the brink of a harsh winter that typically exacerbates the living crisis, especially for the poor and unemployed. The country, with a population of 38 million, has been facing food shortages and a lack of funds and liquidity since the Taliban's takeover in mid-August, which led to the freezing of the central bank’s reserves abroad and the suspension of international aid.
