You may be old enough to remember August 2021, when the Taliban officially took control of Afghanistan. If you need a refresher, in April of that year, President Joe Biden announced that all American troops would withdraw from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021.
From May through July 2021, U.S. and NATO troops began to withdraw. The Taliban launched an aggressive military operation to capture provincial capitals and large swaths of territory.
From August 6 through 14 of that year, the Taliban seized major cities, including Herat, Kandahar, and Mazar-i-Sharif, leaving only Kabul under government control.
On August 15, 2021 the Taliban entered Kabul, the capital, with virtually no resistance. President Ashraf Ghani fled the country. The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan collapsed, and the Taliban declared victory, re-establishing the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
Lest we forget, August 2021 was the time when the Biden administration so mismanaged the U.S. pullout of Afghanistan that military members, American civilians, and others were scrambling to evacuate the country by any means necessary as chaos ruled. The U.S. military was rendered inept thanks to a commander-in-chief with mental deficiencies.
On August 26, at the Abbey Gate of the Kabul Airport, a suicide bomber detonated the explosive vest he was wearing in a spot where thousands of Afghanis were trying to flee the country as the Taliban took over. Thirteen U.S. military service members were killed in the blast on one of the most disgraceful and pathetic days of the Biden administration. This included 11 Marines, one member of the Army, and one member of the Navy. Eighteen others were wounded. At least 170 Afghan civilians were killed.
In September 2021, the Taliban announced a “caretaker government.” It named Hasan Akhund as prime minister and Hibatullah Akhundzada as supreme leader. Because what democratic country does not have a “supreme leader”?
Since then, the United States has given the Taliban-controlled government of Afghanistan at least $3.8 billion in “humanitarian and development aid.” How much of that do you think actually was spent on humanitarian and development initiatives?
Now, thanks to Reuters and the UN, we’re learning that “Afghanistan’s economic recovery is buckling as nine in 10 households are forced to skip meals, sell belongings or take on debt to survive.”
The UN said the cause for the negative impact on Afghanistan’s economy is an unprecedented number of Afghan citizens returning home. These returnees are creating the worst crisis since the Taliban took control of the country.
A United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report indicates that almost one in 10 overseas Afghans has been forced to return home. The total number of returnees since 2023 comes to 4.5 million. Most of them were living in Iran and Pakistan. This has grown the Afghan population by 10%.
The UN report mentioned that, to make matters worse, the country has faced its share of natural disasters, from earthquakes and flood to drought, also known in woke circles as “climate change.”
The Taliban-led country now has a real and serious humanitarian crisis on its hands. Maybe if it spent more of its money to improve the lives of its people, the situation wouldn’t be as dire, but we all know the Taliban has other priorities.
Reuters gleaned this data from the UNDP report: “A survey of more than 48,000 households found that more than half of Afghanistan’s returnees have skipped medical care to buy food and 45 percent rely on open springs or unprotected wells for water. Nearly 90 percent of returning Afghan families are in debt, owing $373 to $900, up to five times the average monthly income of $100 and nearly half of annual per-capita gross domestic product.”
The UNDP said that 30% of children work, yet unemployment among adult returnees is at about 95%. Child labor laws, anyone? Anyone?
The average monthly income is $99.76 in U.S. currency. Rents have tripled.
Now here comes the “ask” from your friends at the UN. The UNDP has now reported that without immediate and critical support Afghanistan’s “crises of poverty, exclusion and migration will deepen.”
Afghan aid donor pledges have dropped significantly since 2021, and now they only cover “a fraction of the $3.1 billion that the UN sought for Afghanistan this year. “
“The Taliban government appealed for international humanitarian assistance after a deadly quake struck eastern Afghanistan in September and it has formally protested Pakistan’s mass expulsion of Afghan nationals, saying it is ‘deeply concerned’ about their treatment,” reported Reuters.
Think about this the next time you see a liberal American woman in a burqa protesting for some Islamic cause. Female participation in Afghanistan’s labor force has dropped to 6%, and it’s not because they can’t or don’t want to work. These are Reuters’ words, not mine: “Restrictions on movement have made it nearly impossible for women who head households to access jobs, education or health care.”
Kanni Wignaraja, UN assistant secretary-general and UNDP regional director for Asia and the Pacific, told the press, “In some provinces one in four households depend on women as the main breadwinner, so when women are prevented from working, families, communities, the country lose out.”
Twenty-six percent of returnee households are headed by women.
To recap, a significant segment of Afghanistan society’s most productive work force is restricted from work. Slave child labor is rampant. A huge percentage of the men don’t work. So what exactly is the cause of this economic crisis? Could it be the government? If so, should we really trust it with American taxpayer aid money? (That’s a rhetorical question only.)
“Cutting women out of frontline aid work means cutting off vital services for those who need them most,” Wignaraja said.
After all we’ve been through with that country, I’ve got an idea. It won’t cost Americans anything, and it’s 7 words.
Hey, Taliban, you are on your own.
The Schumer Shutdown is wrapping up. Rather than put the American people first, Chuck Schumer and the radical Democrats forced a government shutdown for healthcare for illegals. They own this. Help us continue to report the truth about the Schumer Shutdown. Use promo code POTUS47 to get 74% off your VIP membership.
