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More Afghans going hungry, fewer jobs available – World Bank

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The number of people in Afghanistan who cannot afford food and other essentials has doubled since the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) takeover of the country in August 2021 as unemployment rises and wages fall, a World Bank survey showed on Tuesday.

The Afghanistan Welfare Survey, conducted by phone and covering the October-December 2021 period, found that 70% of respondents said their households were unable to cover basic food and non-food needs, up from 35% in May 2021.

The share of Afghan households switching to lower-quality or less expensive food rose to 85% from 56% in the July-August 2021 period, it found.

Nearly half of households also reported a decline in the number of meals consumed each day, up from around a quarter in July-August 2021.

The World Bank attributed the sharp increase in poverty to overall economic conditions rather than to “specific actions introduced by the interim administration”, citing in particular a decline in public sector jobs.

The IEA authorities still lack international recognition seven months after overrunning Kabul as the last U.S.-led international troops departed, ending 20 years of war.

Donors cut financial aid constituting more than 70% of government expenditures and about $9 billion in Afghan central bank assets were frozen. Many IEA leaders remain under US and UN sanctions.

The United Nations has previously warned that more than half of Afghanistan’s 39 million people face starvation.

The World Bank study found about a fifth of household heads were looking for work in the October-December 2021 period, up from 8% during the same period of 2019, largely due to a decline in jobs in the army, police and other security services.

Despite Western concerns that the IEA would roll back women’s rights, the survey said that nationwide, school attendance among both boys and girls aged 6-18 had risen in October-December 2021 compared to the same period of 2019.

The share of households sending boys to school increased to 73% from 63%, while those sending girls rose to 54% from 44%.

The share of urban households sending girls to school stayed flat at 53%, but households sending girls only to primary school rose to 19% from 5%.

Under their previous rule from 1996 to 2001, the IEA barred women and girls from education. They say they have since changed.

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Pakistan delivered ‘strong and clear message’ to IEA: PM Shehbaz Sharif

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Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday once again raised concerns that militant activities continue to emanate from the Afghan territory.

“It is our earnest desire to live in peace with them (Afghanistan) for all times to come. Unfortunately, despite our best and sincere efforts, terrorist activities continue to emanate from Afghan territory,” he said during said at a military academy.

Recalling Deputy PM Ishaq Dar’s recent visit to Kabul, Shehbaz Sharif asserted: “We shall continue our efforts to have better relations and understanding with our brotherly and neighbourly country Afghanistan.

He said that Pakistan has “delivered a strong and clear message” to the Islamic Emirate that while it desire peaceful neighbourly relations with Kabul, this cannot happen as long as the Afghan soil is being used by militants to attack Pakistanis.

Pakistani officials have repeatedly claimed that the attacks in the country have their roots in Afghanistan. The Islamic Emirate, however, has denied the allegations, stressing that it will not allow Afghanistan’s territory to be used against the security of other countries.

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U.S. aid cuts are impacting millions of Afghans: IRC

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For 23 million Afghans, U.S. aid funding has been a critical lifeline, but that support is now in jeopardy, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) aid organization said on Friday.

Funding cuts are already having devastating impacts on the country’s most vulnerable communities, especially women and children, IRC said in an article.

IRC said that due to cuts in U.S, aid funding, it has been forced to suspend some of our life-saving services in Afghanistan.

“As a result, over 700,000 people, including refugees and displaced families, will lose access to essential humanitarian services from IRC programming alone,” IRC said, “Life-saving treatment for more than 15,000 young children suffering from malnutrition has been disrupted.”

The organization noted that Afghanistan is facing a severe humanitarian crisis, with over 22.9 million people in urgent need of aid.

“Decades of conflict, a prolonged economic crisis, and environmental disasters have pushed millions into poverty and left more than one in three Afghans food insecure,” it said.

IRC said that the situation is especially dire for vulnerable groups, including over 3 million children and 1.2 million pregnant or nursing mothers suffering from acute malnutrition.

Across the country, more than 14 million people have limited or no access to health care. Communities are losing access to clean drinking water and basic sanitation services, creating a higher risk of disease outbreaks that could potentially spread across international borders, it said.

IRC warned that without renewed funding, countless families risk falling deeper into hunger, illness and poverty.

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IEA’s condemnation of Kashmir attack ‘encouraging’: Khalilzad

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Former US special envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, said on Friday that the Islamic Emirate’s condemnation of the attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir was an “encouraging development”.

“In an encouraging development, the Taliban (IEA) have sided with the tourist victims in Kashmir and have denounced this terror attack,” Khalilzad said on X.

Twenty-six people were killed in a shooting in a tourist area in Pahalgam, Kashmir, on Tuesday.

The attack has escalated tensions between India and Pakistan, with the two countries taking measures against each other.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan condemned the attack and said that such incidents threaten the security and stability of the region.

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