KUNDUZ -- Zarghona, 34, a Kunduz city resident, was left to look after her family of nine on her own after a mortar killed her husband, brother-in-law and two of her children in August 2021.
"My economic problems have peaked in the last two years. I'm struggling to provide three meals a day [for my family]," she told Salaam Times Sunday (July 2).
"Sometimes I cry out loud, wishing God had not created me. How long do we have to deal with these problems?"
Zarghona, like many others, has turned to selling used clothing on the street.
![A woman sells used clothes July 2 in Kunduz city. [Muhammad Kabir Rasoli/Salaam Times]](/cnmi_st/images/2023/07/07/42924-a__6_-739_416.webp)
A woman sells used clothes July 2 in Kunduz city. [Muhammad Kabir Rasoli/Salaam Times]
"I sit in the sweltering heat every day, but no one wants used clothes. Some days, I earn 50 to 100 AFN ($0.58 to $1.16), but most days, I return home empty-handed," Zarghona said.
Mahbooba, 36, another Kunduz city resident, has also been peddling used clothes for a year.
"I make 100 AFN ($1.16) a day, which does not meet the daily needs of my life," she said.
"I buy men, women and children's clothes in the flea market, iron them at home, and then sell them," she said.
The women called on aid agencies to pay attention to the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, and especially to the problems single breadwinning women face.
Grappling with poverty
Sadia Mohammadi, 30, who is a mother of four, worked for a government agency until August 2021. Now, she has to sell used clothes -- which are not really in demand -- in the Kunduz flea market.
"My husband was working as a security guard for a non-governmental organisation (NGO) until August 2021, but he has been unemployed since then," she said.
"I am the only breadwinner of the family, and I have to work here all day."
"People bring their clothes and household items to sell. We buy them at a low price and sell them to villagers who visit the city," said Asiya Haidary, 32, who also lives in Kunduz city and works in the flea market.
"I have no one except God. I have no breadwinner," she said.
"We have no gas or oil, nothing. I don't have enough money to take my children to a doctor when they get sick."
"People, especially women, sell their secondhand clothes to earn some cash and buy bread," she said. "Nowadays, [customers] avoid buying decorative items. Everyone is just trying to buy a few loaves of bread."
Worse days likely ahead
Afghanistan's economy may deteriorate even more in the future, said Bismillah Ghazanfar, an economist from Kunduz city who now lives in Uzbekistan.
"Hundreds of thousands ... are suffering from unemployment," he said.
"I think the situation will get worse unless the international community supports the people of Afghanistan."
"Unemployment has increased among women and teachers, and former professors, artists, civil servants and security forces. Poverty and hunger are on the rise, causing mental health problems," Ghazanfar said.
"Some Afghans have jobs, but their income is not enough [to live on]," he added. "This situation has increased poverty, paving the way for more young men to leave the country."
The restrictions that aid agencies face will further damage the economy, as most families face poverty and hunger and depend on aid, Ghazanfar said.
Ahmad Shah Haqqani, director of the Kunduz Department of Work and Social Affairs, said his office has training centres where interested individuals can learn different vocations.
"We have good programmes for women who do not have breadwinners. Some of these programmes are currently being implemented by NGOs in parts of Kunduz city," he said.
"We have tailoring and embroidery training for women that would help them earn an income."
"We try to first teach women a vocation so that they can reach economic growth. We are planning to establish a women's market in co-operation with relevant agencies so that women can do business in a safe environment and earn a halal living for themselves," he told Salaam Times.
The recent decision to ban girls' university education is sad and painful. Unfortunately, we have to say that in the last five decades, women have been victims of wrong policies more than anyone else. In our history, the role of women in independence, peace, nation-building, and the training of personalities is very prominent and not less than others. Yesterday's and today's decisions regarding the education and work of our sisters contradict the demands of the modern world and the demands of Afghans. We hope the caretaker government will avoid decisions that will cause more distance among the people. We are sure that most caretaker government members have understood this. I believe in tomorrow and the future. This land and the nation have suffered severe and heavy tragedies. This nation is unbreakable. I am sure that the nation will be referred to soon. We are confident that we will witness such a decision for the benefit and pleasure of the nation and that Afghanistan will be the common home of all Afghans. As long as this earth and sky exist As long as a single Afghan lives As long as this world remains Forever will this Afghanistan remain
Reply7 Comment
What should poor women do? They have no choice. Sharia is implemented in Afghanistan. Women should sit down on the road. This work is permissible in Sharia law, but teaching and working is illegal in Sharia law. This is the law of our country. We have to get used to it. Today, the breadwinners of their homes sell their clothes at an auction. Tomorrow they will sell their pots and pans. what to do they have to because they live in an Islamic country whose law does not allow them to study and work with respect in the same office.
Reply7 Comment
So what else will women do? They are forced to stop doing such things. It was good before, millions were engaged in studies, and hundreds of thousands had regular jobs. They used to go to the office and return to their houses with dignity and respect, but now they are sitting in a bad situation on the streets. No matter who he is, if he is a human, his heart will surely hurt, but in Afghanistan, not only because women's hopes have been destroyed, men are also not valued, but because we are all born from women, we should not treat them so lightly. Islam has given women the right to education, but this right has been taken away in Afghanistan. Recently, Taliban officials released the details of this year's university entrance exam for the National Examinations Agency. The agency said that the examination will be conducted in five rounds with the participation of 100,000 candidates from all over the country within one month. The officials of the press department of this agency say that the first phase of this exam will be held on the 20 and 21 of July, but at the same time, they said that girls are not included in the entrance exam for the year 2023. With the reintroduction of the Taliban, as in their first period of rule, girls and women were again banned from education, work, and many other activities. In Afghanistan, the media is controlled, and the Taliban talk to the people with the force of arms, so no one can speak or raise their voice. Otherwise, the people will vomit fro
Reply7 Comment
May God destroy the Taliban, as no one can live peacefully because of them, nor let them live a relaxed life. They torment women, men, children, and adults, and their policies harm most people (Afghans). It has created a procedure in higher education (university studies) that may close private universities and higher education institutions in two years. Still, instead of the banking system, they collect money every day in sacks, and they take no care of anyone or anything as to the direction the country goes. Oh, the worshipers of God, you destroyed the country. Do a little humanitarian work as people get happy with you and stand beside you. All the people are escaping and taking distance from you. First, they closed the doors of education and took the right to work from them. Now they have closed the beauty saloons. Recently, they have made a plan based on which the private higher education institutes will also stop their activities. Neither this is the way of governing nor leadership.
Reply7 Comment
In every country, women and men work. Still, it is the responsibility of the government to implement support programs for women and to cooperate in the field of investment for women who want to work. For example, for such women, the government and aid organizations can buy wooden stalls where they can sell clothes. Not only clothes but also they can sell handicrafts, household items, and food items. In this regard, the government of Afghanistan, foreign organizations, and wealthy local people who have enough money can help poor women.
Reply7 Comment
In Afghanistan, there are many women who are the heads and breadwinners of their families. In Afghanistan, unemployment has reached its peak because there is nothing for our youth to do, and they remain jobless. Most of the women sell handicrafts. The same women who sell second hand stuff, no one will find anyone to buy the same items from these women. Because people don't have money to buy non-food items. There is a lot of movement of men and women in the city, but no one buys anything. People have no jobs, they go out of the houses, this way they make themselves busy. If someone works in the cities of the provinces of Afghanistan or in the city of Kabul, all of them are in debt. These shopkeepers don't provide enough to find their shop rent and annual tax money, leave alone the family's expenses. If you ask a butcher in Kabul, how is your day? Maybe he will tell you that I owe hundreds of thousands of Afghani. If you ask a fruit seller, he also owes hundreds of thousands of Afghani, because no one purchases anything. There is no provision. A shopkeeper can sell as much as to pay back for the loans for which he has brought the items for selling. Due to the lack of literacy, people sell their property with little or no provisions. Finally, we must say that the United Nations should try hard to recognize the current government of Afghanistan. If this situation continues, the future of the Afghan people will deteriorate day by day.
Reply7 Comment
Afghan women are facing many problems in the current difficult situation and this situation is very stressful. It's not just Kunduz. Women in different provinces of the country experience this kind of suffering. Women with no male household chief are forced to provide for their children. Although there is no shame in work and wages, the international community and the ruling government must take quick steps to get them out of this situation.
Reply7 Comment