Afghans Struggling to Survive in the Face of Collapse of Economy, Rising Inflation

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Sept 29: Amidst international boycott of the Taliban regime because of its refusal to form an “inclusive government,” the people of Afghanistan are struggling to make ends meet with the price of basic commodities skyrocketing.

Reports emanating from Russia said a month-and-a-half after the Taliban’s takeover, Afghans were finding it extremely difficult to survive and earn a living under a changing regime due to the accumulation of various factors including shortages, inflation, and mismanagement.

As per reports, food costs have risen considerably as a result of food imports from Pakistan and Iran, affecting both buyers and sellers. Flour costs have gone up by 30 percent, while vegetables and cereals have undergone a by 50 percent rise.

A fall in the value of the Afghan currency coupled with restrictions on cash withdrawals from banks and ATMs have further added to the worry of the locals. Not more than 20,000 Afghanis can be withdrawn from banks per week, the Taliban government has dictated.

Earlier, Kabul streets were seen lined up with homecare appliances. In a desperate need to survive, Afghans were seen selling everything to find enough money to get food or arrange resources to escape the crumbling nation. Some were even seen selling off goods worth 100,000 afghanis for as little as 20,000.

Even the Islamic countries like Pakistan and Turkey are finding it difficult to assist the Taliban in the absence of recognition of the “interim government” by the international community. Italy said there was no question of recognizing the present all-male government of Taliban, though the people of Afghanistan must be helped. Australia is learnt to be planning to indefinitely postpone the one-off cricket test match against the Afghanistan male team till it the Afghanistan government decided to re-group the female cricket team.

Even as the Taliban wrote a letter to India requesting permission for the Afghanistan airlines to resume flights to and from Delhi, it on Wednesday warned of consequences if the United States did not stop flying drones over Afghan airspace. It said on Twitter that the US had violated international rights and laws as well as its commitments made to the Taliban in Doha, Qatar, with the operation of drones in Afghanistan.

“The US has violated all international rights and laws as well as its commitments made to the Taliban in Doha, Qatar, with the operation of these drones in Afghanistan,” the Taliban said in a statement on Twitter. “We call on all countries, especially United States, to treat Afghanistan in light of international rights, laws and commitments … in order to prevent any negative consequences.”

The Afghanistan Civil Aviation Authority under the new Taliban regime has written to India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation seeking resumption of flights operated by its airlines Kam Air and Ariana Afghan Airline to and from Delhi. DGCA chief said that the Ministry of Civil Aviation will take a call on the matter as this was a policy issue.

The DGCA chief Arun Kumar confirmed receiving the letter, and said the Ministry of Civil Aviation will take a call on the matter as this was a policy issue.

The Afghanistan airspace was declared “uncontrolled” and was effectively closed for civilian flights on August 16 following the Taliban takeover of Kabul. Since then, the Taliban government, with the help of Qatar, has managed to resume several airports in the country, including at Kabul.

In the letter dated September 7 addressed to Kumar, Afghanistan’s Acting Minister for Civil Aviation and Transport Alhaj Hamidullah Akhundzada wrote: “The intention of this letter is to keep the smooth passenger movement between two countries based on the signed MoU and our national carriers (Ariana Afghan Airline and Kam Air) aimed to commence their scheduled flights. Therefore, Afghanistan Civil Aviation Authority requests you to facilitate their commercial flights.”

“The Civil Aviation of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan avails its highest assurance,” he added. “As you are well informed that recently the Kabul Airport was damaged and dysfunctional by American troops before their withdrawal. By technical assistance of our Qatar Brother, the Airport became operational once again and a NOTAM in this regard issued on September 6,” Akhundzada wrote in the letter to DGCA.

Prior to the Taliban takeover, India’s national carrier Air India and low-cost airline SpiceJet operated flights between Delhi and Kabul. While Air India operated its last scheduled flight to Kabul on August 15, SpiceJet had suspended its flights last year during the Covid-19 pandemic. These flights mainly flew medical tourists, students and traders as passengers, while carrying spices and dry fruits as cargo.

Last week the Taliban also appealed to airlines from other countries to resume operations, promising its complete co-operation and saying that all problems at the airport had been resolved. The statement came as the Taliban steps up efforts to open up Afghanistan and gain international acceptance, as well as jumpstart a national economy on brink of collapse.

Taliban spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi said suspension of international flights had left Afghans stranded abroad and prevented people from travelling for work or study. “As problems at Kabul International Airport have been resolved and the airport is fully operational for domestic and international flights, the IEA assures all airlines of its full cooperation,” he said. The IEA is the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan – the Taliban’s term for their new government.

So far only a limited number of aid and passenger flights have been operating out of Kabul. On September 13 an international commercial flight – a Pakistan International Airlines plane – became the first to fly in and out of the airport in over a month. A few other airlines have begun offering some services as well, but with severely limited options prices remain many times higher than normal. Currently, regular international flights out of Kabul are being operated to Pakistan and Iran only.

The airport was damaged during the evacuation, but repairs have been carried out with the assistance of technical teams from Qatar and Turkey. Earlier this month Afghan police personnel also returned to duty at the airport, operating checkpoints alongside Taliban security forces.

Reports from Pakistan said the country was facing difficulties in providing technical, financial and expert support to the Taliban government in Afghanistan in the absence of the regime’s international recognition. At a meeting presided over by Economic Affairs Omar Ayub Khan on Tuesday, key stakeholders considered various options to support the new Afghan administration through capacity building and technical expertise under crash programmes. The meeting was held amid reports that the war-torn neighbouring country was facing a severe food crisis. But the major challenge was how to do that without recognition by the world of the Afghan government, the media reports said.

Italian Foreign Affairs Minister Luigi Di Maio said the Taliban government could not be recognised, but urged foreign governments to prevent a financial collapse there that would spark massive flows of migrants. Italy holds the annual, rotating presidency of the G20 and is looking to host a special summit on Afghanistan.

“Recognition of the Taliban government is impossible since there are 17 terrorists among the ministers, and the human rights of women and girls are continuously violated,” Di Maio, who chaired a meeting of G20 foreign ministers in New York last week, said. However, the Afghan people should start receiving the financial support that was frozen after the Taliban took power last month, he said.

“In a while they will not be able to pay salaries. Clearly, we must prevent Afghanistan from implosion and from an uncontrolled flow of migration that could destabilize neighbouring countries,” Di Maio said. “There are ways to guarantee financial support without giving money to the Taliban. We have also agreed that a part of humanitarian aid must always go to the protection of women and girls.”

According to media reports, the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had said his country expected the Taliban government in Afghanistan to be “inclusive” before any agreement could be reached about operating Kabul’s strategic airport. Turkey had been planning to help secure and run the airport before the hardline Islamist Taliban’s swift capture of the Afghan capital last month. There were also negotiations on the subject this summer between Turkish and US officials but after the Taliban’s return, Turkish troops stationed in the country pulled out.

Turkey’s withdrawal alongside other NATO forces followed the end of the United States’ longest military conflict last month. The fall of Kabul shattered the plans but Turkey had been holding talks with the Taliban about the conditions under which it could help operate the airport. “The government in Afghanistan is not inclusive, is not embracing all different factions. So long as that will be the question we won’t be present in Afghanistan, but if the government shall be more inclusive, we can be there, present, as Turkey,” Erdogan told the media.

“We would expect all women to be involved in every aspect of life in Afghanistan in a very active way. And whenever women become more active in every aspect of life, we can support them,” he added. Erdogan discussed Turkey’s management of the airport with US President Joe Biden during their first meeting in June on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Brussels. But relations are strained between the two presidents, with Erdogan admitting on Thursday they had “not gotten off to a good start.”

Meanwhile, the US Department of Homeland Security has denied US landing rights for a charter plane carrying more than 100 Americans and US green card holders evacuated from Afghanistan, organisers of the flight said. “They will not allow a charter on an international flight into a US port of entry,” Bryan Stern, a founder of non-profit group Project Dynamo, said of the department’s Customs and Border Protection agency. Stern spoke to media from aboard a plane his group chartered from Kam Air, a private Afghan airline, that he said had been sitting for 14 hours at Abu Dhabi airport after arriving from Kabul with 117 people, including 59 children.