he crisis in Afghanistan may have faded from the headlines as attention shifts to the war in Ukraine but the world must not give up on the Afghan people. Specifically, the world must not give up on Afghan women. The United States has withdrawn and left behind a hole that the Taliban filled, but long before the U.S. and long before the Taliban, it was Afghan women who kept society together. They supported their families and fed their children, protected their communities, and pursued education for all their children. Now, it is women who will fight against the repressive regime of the Taliban, who will continue to educate all of their children, and who will try to bring back a sense of safety and security within their communities. The international humanitarian community needs to rethink how to get aid to Afghanistan because It is women, not the illegitimate Taliban regime, who will take desperately needed humanitarian aid and put it to good use.
Since the withdrawal, women’s lives have drastically changed for the worse. Repressive religious requirements, refusal to educate girl children, and the widespread use of reprisal killings make a dire situation of widespread poverty and hunger even worse. Adults are selling body parts to feed their family and when that doesn’t work, girls are sold for money or food. Afghanistan needs aid and it needs aid now.
The people of Afghanistan know where this aid needs to go, especially the women. They are people with agency who have great capacity to rebuild families, communities, and industries. “Since Afghanistan fell into the hands of the Taliban, everyone keeps saying that Afghanistan is facing a humanitarian crisis. There is aid going into the country but, we don’t see the lives of people improving based on the aid that is being distributed already,” says Zubaida Akbar, Afghan human rights defender who was interviewed for this article. This is happening because of the Taliban, which is unable to govern a country let alone care for people who are starving.
In January 2022 the UN launched the single largest country appeal to date. Antonio Guterres doubled down on the appeal again in March 2022, calling on the world to fund $4.4 billion in humanitarian aid to Afghanistan. Major humanitarian aid donors have considered halting their aid in protest of the Taliban government and their oppressive policies for women. Guterres has specifically asked the international community not to use these policies as a bargaining tool for humanitarian aid, which will hurt not the Taliban government, but the people who are already suffering greatly under its rule. The UN’s appeal is only 13% funded at the moment, but this package of humanitarian aid is vital to the survival of the Afghan people. Afghan women will know exactly where that aid needs to go and how to get it there.
“For some reason, the international aid industry thinks that unless you work with a formal structure like a government or sub-contractor then the aid won’t be utilized properly because the people don’t know what they need. It comes from colonialism, the idea that formal structures of power know what is best,” says Akbar. International relief efforts should use the network of women and grassroots organizations across Afghanistan to funnel humanitarian aid throughout the country. The international aid community shouldn’t legitimize the Taliban by interacting with them, even if it is under the guise of giving aid. But aid needs to get into the country and it is grassroots and women’s organizations that know where that money needs to go and how it should be spent.
The US withdrawal in August plunged the Afghan economy into a death spiral. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) estimates that by mid 2022, up to 97% of the country could be living below the poverty line. Afghanistan is a country in crisis, but its people have great agency and capacity to rebuild. “The repercussions are dire. You cannot assume that the aspirations of an entire country can be condensed into standing in line for a food package, despite widespread hunger and malnutrition. But the international aid community’s job isn’t just to deliver aid, it’s to get people back to work, people want to work, and they want to rebuild their country,” says Akbar. This is where humanitarian aid needs to focus its efforts because this is where the country will not only survive, but maybe have the chance to thrive.
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Give Money Directly to Afghan Women
Afghan girl. Photo by Sebastian Rich.
May 17, 2022
The world's attention has shifted, but Afghanistan remains in a crisis - and it's bound to get worse. The international humanitarian community needs to rethink how to get aid to Afghanistan, and the answer may be to get aid directly to Afghanistan's women, writes Coby Jones.
T
he crisis in Afghanistan may have faded from the headlines as attention shifts to the war in Ukraine but the world must not give up on the Afghan people. Specifically, the world must not give up on Afghan women. The United States has withdrawn and left behind a hole that the Taliban filled, but long before the U.S. and long before the Taliban, it was Afghan women who kept society together. They supported their families and fed their children, protected their communities, and pursued education for all their children. Now, it is women who will fight against the repressive regime of the Taliban, who will continue to educate all of their children, and who will try to bring back a sense of safety and security within their communities. The international humanitarian community needs to rethink how to get aid to Afghanistan because It is women, not the illegitimate Taliban regime, who will take desperately needed humanitarian aid and put it to good use.
Since the withdrawal, women’s lives have drastically changed for the worse. Repressive religious requirements, refusal to educate girl children, and the widespread use of reprisal killings make a dire situation of widespread poverty and hunger even worse. Adults are selling body parts to feed their family and when that doesn’t work, girls are sold for money or food. Afghanistan needs aid and it needs aid now.
The people of Afghanistan know where this aid needs to go, especially the women. They are people with agency who have great capacity to rebuild families, communities, and industries. “Since Afghanistan fell into the hands of the Taliban, everyone keeps saying that Afghanistan is facing a humanitarian crisis. There is aid going into the country but, we don’t see the lives of people improving based on the aid that is being distributed already,” says Zubaida Akbar, Afghan human rights defender who was interviewed for this article. This is happening because of the Taliban, which is unable to govern a country let alone care for people who are starving.
In January 2022 the UN launched the single largest country appeal to date. Antonio Guterres doubled down on the appeal again in March 2022, calling on the world to fund $4.4 billion in humanitarian aid to Afghanistan. Major humanitarian aid donors have considered halting their aid in protest of the Taliban government and their oppressive policies for women. Guterres has specifically asked the international community not to use these policies as a bargaining tool for humanitarian aid, which will hurt not the Taliban government, but the people who are already suffering greatly under its rule. The UN’s appeal is only 13% funded at the moment, but this package of humanitarian aid is vital to the survival of the Afghan people. Afghan women will know exactly where that aid needs to go and how to get it there.
“For some reason, the international aid industry thinks that unless you work with a formal structure like a government or sub-contractor then the aid won’t be utilized properly because the people don’t know what they need. It comes from colonialism, the idea that formal structures of power know what is best,” says Akbar. International relief efforts should use the network of women and grassroots organizations across Afghanistan to funnel humanitarian aid throughout the country. The international aid community shouldn’t legitimize the Taliban by interacting with them, even if it is under the guise of giving aid. But aid needs to get into the country and it is grassroots and women’s organizations that know where that money needs to go and how it should be spent.
The US withdrawal in August plunged the Afghan economy into a death spiral. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) estimates that by mid 2022, up to 97% of the country could be living below the poverty line. Afghanistan is a country in crisis, but its people have great agency and capacity to rebuild. “The repercussions are dire. You cannot assume that the aspirations of an entire country can be condensed into standing in line for a food package, despite widespread hunger and malnutrition. But the international aid community’s job isn’t just to deliver aid, it’s to get people back to work, people want to work, and they want to rebuild their country,” says Akbar. This is where humanitarian aid needs to focus its efforts because this is where the country will not only survive, but maybe have the chance to thrive.
