As Eid al-Fitr festivities unfold across the country, many families are contending with poverty and economic difficulties, unable to afford basic holiday luxuries.
Numerous families reported their struggles to provide dried fruits and new clothing for their children during the holiday. Khairunnisa, a mother of seven from Jowzjan province, shared her family’s hardships, noting they often went hungry. “On the first morning of Eid, my children woke up hungry,” she said. “Out of three nights, we can only prepare one meal.”
“We didn’t buy any goods for the children, we have no flour, no rice, no oil,” Khairunnisa told Amu, a local news outlet. She added that Eid began with just bitter tea and a loaf of bread, and she could not afford new clothes or dried fruits for her children. Her husband, a farmer, earns less than 50 AFN (Afghan Afghani) per day. “I have seven children; they’re all hungry; they can’t work. My husband used to have a good job, now he doesn’t,” she lamented.
Additionally, 11-year-old Abubakr mentioned that his family’s financial constraints forced him to drop out of school as they could not afford school supplies. “The government should help us go to school. We have no sweets; we have nothing,” he expressed.
The economic situation has worsened in Afghanistan following the Taliban’s takeover, with an uneven distribution of aid exacerbating the plight of poor families. There have been reports of Taliban members interfering with the aid process, diverting resources to their own supporters.
The United Nations has repeatedly highlighted the dire situation, warning that over half of Afghanistan’s population is facing a lack of access to adequate food.
