Law students and lawyers in Afghanistan are filing reports with JURIST on the situation there after the Taliban takeover. Here, a Staff Correspondent for JURIST in Kabul reports on a recent report by the World Food Program regarding growing rates of hunger and poverty in Afghanistan. For privacy and security reasons, we are withholding our Correspondent’s name. The text has only been lightly edited to respect the author’s voice.

According to the World Food Program, 95 percent of Afghans do not have enough food to eat. In a tweet on Saturday, the UN World Food Program warned that hunger in Afghanistan is on the rise, with 95 percent of the people going hungry.

According to the World Food Program, out of every ten income-generating families, the income of eight families plummeted substantially in January, with the most affected families in Kabul. The World Food Program has also stated that many people went through the winter without any income and were forced to face challenges in the cold, according to their data.

The bad news is that the situation is still unpredictable, and poverty is growing by the day, with the Taliban government having no effective plan to combat poverty and unemployment. Afghans have seen nothing but bogus promises from the Taliban regarding education, the economy, poverty, and unemployment since August 2021. The Taliban-led administration has not taken take any major actions in Afghanistan since they seized power in the country. In addition to this, insecurity and unemployment have significantly developed since the fall of the former government by the Taliban.

People have started selling their household goods to be able to feed themselves. Kabul is full of newly established street markets selling households. People are selling their household goods to feed their families and also most of these people are fleeing the country.

The number of young Afghan men who migrate in search of work to Iran, Pakistan, UAE, and other neighboring countries have been tripled. Most of these migrants are heading to Pakistan and Iran where they can make less amount of money working on construction projects. Most of these migrants find jobs with no safety, some without a permit but all paid less. In the past, mainly Pakistan and Iran have used the Afghan work force as cheap labor opportunities.

Not all of these migrants are lucky enough to find a job and make something. Most of them are arrested, in some circumstances tortured and even killed.