A survey conducted by the Gallup Management consulting company, indicates that “nearly all Afghans (94%) rated their lives poorly enough to be considered suffering” since the Islamic Emirate came to power in the country of around 40 million.
Based on Gallup’s findings, suffering among women has increased as 96% of women rated their lives poorly enough to be considered suffering.
The survey says that the drop in daily income of the Afghans and poverty forced the people to leave the country.
According to Gallup, 96% of Afghan women and 92% of men are suffering, 82% suffer from lack of access to shelter and food. 75% women are suffering from being deprived of their rights, 56% of people are seeking to leave the country.
The survey put the rate of poverty at more than 95% in the country since the fall of the former government.
“There is a lot of suffering. One person is suffering from lack of food, accommodation and a job, and another one is suffering from losing his job as an employee and is concerned about his fate,” said Esmatullah, a resident of Kabul.
“I have no one to work. My father is jobless. My brothers are too young and thus, I am obliged to engage in working,” said Tolsi, a resident of Kabul.
Based on Gallup’s report, millions of Afghans are on the brink of starvation as a humanitarian crisis threatens the country.
“The women are banned from going to work and the girls are banned from education. These are all major hardships that could be end by allowing girls to attend school and women to work,” said Shumayal, a women’s rights activist.
According to Gallup, the survey doesn’t only show a high record for Afghanistan but also the highest level of suffering measured for any country since 2005.
According to Nasima, her children were at school last year, but now they are deprived of an education and beg for food with her in the streets of Kabul.
“There is no one to work for us, we are the ones who work, my mother and father are sick and we are begging, “said Asma, Nasima’s little daughter.
“My dad is ill, I want to study, we have no one to bring us food and I am begging,” said Shazia, Nasima’s small daughter.
Shahbaz Khan, Nasima’s husband, is also begging.
He was a soldier in the former Afghanistan National Army (ANA), and said that the hardship over time has left him mentally ill.
“I served in the ANA for 15 years as an officer. I served in Kandahar, Paktia, Takhar and Kunduz. Now I can’t work and there is no opportunity for work,” he said.
Most of these former force members say that they face many economic challenges and they ask the Islamic Emirate to recruit them to the security forces.—Tolonews
