Web Desk

ISLAMABAD:&nbsp;The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse bring war, famine, pestilence and death. Afghanistan in April had all four, recast as empty markets, flooded clinics, failed harvests, and a generation of women written permanently out of public life. No single agency report captured all four aspects together. Hunger In the fourth week of April, a casual laborer could work a full day and buy 10 kilograms of wheat flour with his wages. A year ago, he could buy nearly 12. According to the World Food Programme&#39;s (WFP) weekly market report published April 30, the real purchasing power of labor-dependent households has fallen 33% below last year&#39;s levels. Meanwhile, employment itself is scarcer, with workers finding jobs only 1.9 days per week, down 20% from 2025. The year-on-year price picture is severe across the board. Wheat grain costs 19% more than a year ago. High-quality rice has risen 44% while sugar is up 21%, per WFP. For the poorest households, the staples are worse: tomatoes cost 48% more than a year ago and potatoes 64% more. The external lifeline is shrinking simultaneously. Remittance inflows stood at 17.7% of Afghanistan&#39;s GDP in 2023 and are projected to fall to 12.9% in 2025, per the World Bank. A further decline in 2026 is described as &quot;highly likely.&quot; The WFP food basket stood at 6,055 afghani ($94.70) in the fourth week of April, against a transfer value last set at 5,800 afghani ($90.70) in May 2024. Pipeline breaks are expected starting in May due to funding shortfalls, per the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Floods While aid agencies stretched their capacity, floodwaters cut through the south. Heavy rains beginning March 25 affected Parwan, Paktia, Kandahar, Zabul, Helmand and Nangarhar provinces, killing hundreds and injuring more, according to OCHA flash updates. According to the EU&#39;s emergency coordination center,&nbsp;60,000 people have been confirmed to need assistance out of the 73,300 initially affected.&nbsp; Across five provinces, 61 health facilities were also impacted. The Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations reported that a mere 42% of identified flood-affected people had received humanitarian support. Failed harvests The food crisis visible in April&#39;s market data is a lagging indicator. The forward-looking numbers are worse. Urea fertilizer, critical during planting season, costs 40% more than last year. DAP fertilizer is up 19%, per WFP. Farmers who cannot afford inputs now will produce less food later. Afghanistan&#39;s agriculture is largely rain-fed, and the La Ni&ntilde;a phenomenon in early 2025 had already reduced snowfall and rainfall while raising temperatures, severely disrupting growing conditions, per UNICEF&#39;s Innocenti. The harvest being planted in April is already compromised. The vanishing workforce In 2024, approximately 3.8 million girls aged 7 to 18 were out of school, including more than 2.6 million adolescent girls, according to the April UNICEF Innocenti issue brief. Nearly 8 out of 10 young Afghan women are currently not in education, employment or training. The UNICEF brief noted that this is one of the highest rates globally. Each year, an additional 250,000 girls are barred from progressing beyond primary education. By 2030, more than 2 million will have been directly affected. Teaching and healthcare, the two sectors in which women are currently permitted to work, are losing staff faster than they can be replaced. These sectors face a projected loss of up to 20,000 skilled female teachers and 5,400 skilled female health workers by 2030, roughly one quarter of the 2021 workforce, according to UNICEF. The economic cost stands at a minimum of 5.3 billion afghani ($84 million) annually, equivalent to 0.5% of Afghanistan&#39;s 2023 GDP, compounding each year, per UNICEF. Stunting among children under five has already risen from 44.7% to 45.6%, an increase of an estimated 10,000 additional children. This is a direct consequence of education restrictions, UNICEF reported. The scale Approximately 21.9 million people (about 45% of Afghanistan&#39;s population) are projected to require humanitarian assistance in 2026, according to OCHA&#39;s Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan. Of those, 17.4 million face acute food insecurity and an estimated 3.5 million children are acutely malnourished. Meanwhile, the International Rescue Committee reported that approximately 5 million people are at emergency hunger levels, one step from famine-like conditions.

An Afghan man carries food aid distributed by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the Kamdesh district in Nuristan province on April 22, 2026. (AFP)

Afghanistan

The country faces converging crises, with worsening food insecurity, damaged infrastructure, climate shocks and educational restrictions driving a deepening humanitarian emergency.

Afghanistan's four horsemen: Hunger, floods, failed harvests, vanishing women

ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan faces a nationwide learning crisis as the professional teaching workforce declines and millions of children stay out of school, according to reports from UNICEF and UNESCO. Data from late 2025 shows that over 90% of 10-year-olds in the country cannot read or understand a simple text. The figure was reported in the Afghanistan Education Situation Report 2025 published by UNESCO and UNICEF. More than 2.13 million primary school-aged children are currently out of school, according to UNICEF Afghanistan&#39;s late-2025 situational updates. When including secondary-aged youth, the total number of children out of the classroom reaches approximately 9 million. Workforce de-professionalization and staffing shifts The teaching workforce has undergone a significant shift since 2021. According to the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) and Human Rights Watch, the system previously employed 220,000 teachers, including 80,500 women. But the ban on women teaching boys created a critical shortage. Human Rights Watch reported in December 2023 that women previously made up 90% of some school staff in urban centers like Kabul. In addition, specialized women educators, who often held degrees in physics, chemistry, and biology, have been frequently replaced. According to the Afghanistan Education Situation Report 2025, these roles are now often filled by male teachers in lower primary grades or by community members with only a high school diploma. New recruitment mandates now require applicants to pass tests on &quot;Emirate Studies.&quot; According to administrative records and a January 2025 report from a local Afghan news outlet, this booklet was written by Qari Abdul Sattar Said and Syed Noor Mohammad Mohib Korabi to promote the interim government&#39;s narrative. Economic instability for educators Public school teachers earn an average monthly salary of approximately 8,000 AFN ($127), according to Amu TV on March 23, 2025. Educators informed the news outlet that these wages are frequently delayed by two months or more. This leaves many unable to afford basic needs like rent or food. However, some relief has come through international projects. The World Bank&rsquo;s Education Emergency Response in Afghanistan (EERA) supported the recruitment of 5,050 teachers for community-based education. The group includes 1,868 women, as per project data. In a report released on March 15, UNICEF said that it invested in training 54,000 teachers in 2025. The program used multiple phases and structured follow-up to help teachers apply new methods. Crumbling infrastructure and curriculum changes School facilities remain in poor condition across the country. According to the Afghanistan Education Situation Report 2025, nearly 50% of schools lack safe buildings or sanitation facilities. Approximately 79% operate without electricity. Natural disasters and conflict have forced over 1,000 schools to remain closed, according to UNESCO in 2025. In Kunar province, roughly 25,000 children were still learning in tents six months after a major earthquake on August 31, 2025, according to a report from Save the Children. In a move that raised eyebrows, the Ministry of Higher Education overhauled the academic curriculum in late August 2025, removing a number of subjects. A directive issued by the deputy minister for academic affairs eliminated 18 subjects, including human rights, gender equality, and political science, according to local news outlets. Meanwhile, the BBC reported in September 2025 that 679 academic books were banned from universities for being &quot;inconsistent&quot; with &quot;local values.&quot; Systematic exclusion and economic impact Afghanistan remains the only country in the world to forbid girls and women from attending secondary and higher education. This ban is projected to cost the Afghan economy $9.6 billion by 2066, according to the Afghanistan Education Situation Report 2025. The restriction has also fueled a sharp rise in &quot;NEET&quot; rates (young women not in education, employment, or training). By 2024 alone, this rate reached 78%, nearly four times that of men, as reported in the 2024 Afghanistan Gender Index published by UN Women. This growing divide places a heavy burden on the nation&#39;s future economic stability and is seen by analysts as one that must be addressed immediately.

A situation report by UN in 2025 stated that the number of female university faculty members has plummeted by 70% since 2021. (UNICEF)

Millions of children remain out of school as professional educators are removed and university faculty numbers plummet across Afghanistan, according to reports from UNICEF and UNESCO.

Afghanistan’s education system faces collapse as professional teachers vanish

ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan now has only 190&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/formal-justice-eludes-afghan-women-under-taliban-authorities-un" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="noopener noreferrer">women journalists</a> working in the country, down from over 2,000 before the Taliban takeover in August 2021, which is less than 10%, the Free Speech Centre reported. In a post on Facebook, the <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/afghanistan-media-crisis-grows-as-taliban-forces-close-private-tv-station-taliban-force-shutdown-of-private-tv-station-under-supreme-leaders-orders" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="noopener noreferrer">press freedom</a> advocacy group wrote that since the interim government returned to power, authorities have imposed detentions, physical assaults, and severe limits on women&rsquo;s reporting. Many women journalists have been threatened or imprisoned, it said. Around 86% of <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/un-general-assembly-president-highlights-gender-apartheid-in-afghanistan" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="noopener noreferrer">Afghan women</a> journalists have lost their jobs or cannot work freely. In roughly 20 provinces, no female journalists remain. Some reporters work anonymously or publish without bylines to avoid retaliation. Others rely on remote reporting for exile-based media organizations. The group also raised concerns about Afghan journalists living abroad amid recent conflicts involving <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/usisrael-war-on-iran-day-10" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="noopener noreferrer">Iran and the United States</a>, citing detention risks. Despite the challenges, Afghan women journalists in exile continue reporting, amplifying voices silenced inside Afghanistan, the Free Speech Centre said.

Afghan journalists interview a woman for state-run Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) during a ceremony to mark International Women's Day in Helmand province's Lashkar Gah on March 8, 2010. (AFP)

Approximately 86% of Afghan women journalists have lost their jobs, and around 20 provinces have no female reporters. Many work anonymously or remotely for exile-based media, the Free Speech Centre reported.

Less than 10% women journalists left working in Afghanistan since Taliban takeover: Advocacy group

ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan on Tuesday banned women from engaging in heavy labor in Nuristan province, citing the need to prevent &ldquo;harmful customs and immoral practices,&rdquo; according to a statement issued by the Taliban&rsquo;s Deputy Minister of Information and Culture, Muhajer Farahi, on X. The statement said women in Nuristan are now prohibited from performing physically demanding work under the implementation of the 17th decree of the Taliban&rsquo;s Supreme Leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada. <div class="fr-embed"><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display: flex; max-width: 550px; width: 100%; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: left; line-height: 2;"><iframe id="twitter-widget-0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" style="position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 345px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=2016025272949358681&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fmain.d1wrm1qseko1cp.amplifyapp.com%2Fdashboard%2F&sessionId=36f42e0665e82bbf3a6f280fa6a0436c08448331&theme=light&widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&width=550px"></iframe></div> </div>&ldquo;In accordance with the implementation of the 17th decree of the Amir al-Mu&rsquo;minin, heavy and arduous labor for women has been banned in Nuristan as part of efforts to prevent harmful customs and immoral practices,&rdquo; it said. Farahi added that the measures aim to &ldquo;reform society, preserve Islamic values, and prevent harmful traditions.&rdquo;

Afghanistan has banned women from heavy labor in Nuristan province under a decree aimed at 'preventing harmful customs and preserving Islamic values.'

Afghanistan bans women from heavy labor in Nuristan province

ISLAMABAD: The Taliban government in Afghanistan has instituted a &ldquo;systematic and institutionalized campaign aimed at erasing Afghan women and girls, including through a plethora of restrictive edicts,&rdquo; United Nations experts said in a <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/01/treaty-crimes-against-humanity-states-must-give-afghan-women-central-voice" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">press release</a>&nbsp;on Monday.&nbsp; &ldquo;The de facto authorities have banned girls from education beyond grade 6, severely restricted women&rsquo;s right to work, and effectively criminalized their presence in public life,&rdquo; the press release said.&nbsp; The Taliban government has moved backwards when it comes to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/taliban-detains-woman-journalist-in-northern-afghanistan" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">rights</a>&nbsp;for women ever since it came to power in 2021. The government has ratified laws that restrict&nbsp;women&#39;s access to education,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/un-calls-on-taliban-to-lift-ban-on-afghan-women-in-its-offices" target="_blank">public-sector</a>&nbsp;jobs, and even amusement parks.&nbsp; According to a press release issued by the UN, states must ensure the meaningful participation of Afghan women leaders and gender justice activists in the imminent negotiations on the new treaty.&nbsp; &ldquo;For the treaty on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes Against Humanity to be a transformative instrument of justice, it cannot be drafted in a vacuum,&rdquo; the experts said.&nbsp; The experts included five members from the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls, and the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett. The experts, according to the press release, said that the treaty&#39;s legitimacy would depend on whether it &ldquo;enables the meaningful participation of those who are living under the very atrocities the treaty seeks to address and prevent.&rdquo; &ldquo;States must therefore stand in solidarity with Afghan women, girls, and others targeted based on their gender by ensuring their meaningful inclusion, and with serious consideration of the lived realities on the ground in Afghanistan,&rdquo; it said. Separately, in a post on X, former Afghan parliamentarian Fawzia Koofi welcomed the statement from the UN experts, urging the &ldquo;UN sixth committee to ensure women, especially survivors, are heard and included in every step of the negotiation process on the convention on crimes against humanity.&rdquo; According to the press release, experts urged the member states to heed the calls of Afghan women and other activists &ldquo;to include the crime of gender apartheid within the new treaty.&rdquo; They said that Afghanistan stood as one of the &ldquo;clearest and most urgent examples of why inclusive survivor participation is indispensable.&rdquo; &ldquo;The voices of Afghan women in civil society are not merely testimonies; they are authoritative sources and primary experts on the oppression they face,&rdquo; they said, adding that their participation was essential to &ldquo;ensuring that international law evolves to address the realities of the atrocities unfolding today.&rdquo; They called on states to ensure the &ldquo;codification of gender apartheid as a crime against humanity, and uphold gender-responsive provisions throughout the treaty.&rdquo; &ldquo;At the same time, we urge states to strengthen other modes of support for Afghan women, girls, and gender-diverse persons, including through actively preventing normalization of the Taliban de facto regime, establishing safe, legal and long-term immigration pathways and providing sustained funding for women-led civil society,&rdquo; UN experts said. &ldquo;Naming gender apartheid is a necessary step toward dismantling it,&rdquo; they added. &ldquo;We must stand in solidarity with those on the front lines by providing a legal name for their lived reality, ensuring the international community can hold perpetrators accountable for the totality of their crimes,&rdquo; the press release concluded.

The Taliban government has moved backwards when it comes to rights for women ever since they came into power in 2021; the government has ratified laws that restrict women from accessing education, public sector jobs, and even going to amusement parks. 

Taliban govt ran ‘systematic, institutionalized campaign’ to erase Afghan women: UN experts 

ISLAMABAD: The Taliban authorities arrested a woman journalist in northern Kunduz province on Tuesday and transferred her to an unknown location, the Afghan Media Support Organization said in a statement. According to a statement posted on the organization&rsquo;s Facebook page, Nazera Rashidi has been detained for four days without disclosed charges. <div class="fr-embed" style="line-height: 2;"><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FAfghanistanMSO%2Fposts%2Fpfbid04oKVLy9c2LmT5oG1TTyWJ5CziDA9qDqmDeVCfY3BBshUtEiCyPMFjF56vxB1HCcnl&show_text=true&width=500" width="500" height="687" style="border:none;overflow:hidden;" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</iframe></div> She is the sole guardian for her younger siblings in a household without an adult male, the organization said. The family told the Afghan Media Support Organization that Rashidi &quot;has not engaged in any illegal activities,&quot; according to the statement. The organization called for her immediate release and urged Taliban authorities to &quot;clearly state the legal reasons for her detention.&quot; The arrest adds to documented cases of journalist detentions since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021. Press freedom decline Afghanistan ranked 175th out of 180 countries in the 2025 World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders, scoring 17.88 out of 100. Within months of the Taliban takeover, 43% of media outlets disappeared, according to Reporters Without Borders. By late 2024, more than two-thirds of Afghanistan&#39;s 12,000 journalists had left the profession, the United Nations documented. Between August 2021 and September 2024, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights recorded 336 cases of human rights violations against media professionals, including 256 arbitrary arrests and 130 instances of torture or ill-treatment. Impact on women journalists More than 80% of women journalists have stopped working since 2021, according to a survey by Reporters Without Borders in collaboration with the Afghan Independent Journalists Association. In some provinces, women&#39;s voices are banned from broadcasts, according to Human Rights Watch. Those still working face workplace segregation requirements and must cover their faces on camera. Afghan officials refuse interviews with women journalists or exclude them from press events, Human Rights Watch reported. Recent restrictions The Taliban banned broadcasting images of living beings in several provinces, including Takhar, in 2024 and 2025, and restricted social media access on smartphones. As of late 2025, the Taliban began broadcasting forced &quot;confessions&quot; of journalists online after arrests for alleged &quot;anti-Taliban propaganda,&quot; Reporters Without Borders reported. The General Directorate of Intelligence conducts most arbitrary detentions, while the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice provides oversight, according to the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan. The Committee to Protect Journalists and the #KeepItOn coalition condemned nationwide internet shutdowns in late 2025 that Taliban authorities ordered to curb &quot;immorality.&quot; The Afghan Media Support Organization called on international institutions and human rights organizations to &quot;take practical measures to prevent the continued arrests and harassment of female journalists.&quot;

The Afghan Media Support Organization called on international institutions and human rights organizations to "take practical measures to prevent the continued arrests and harassment of female journalists."

Taliban detain woman journalist in northern Afghanistan

KABUL: The United Nations called on the Taliban authorities on Sunday to lift its ban on Afghan women working in its offices, saying the restriction puts &quot;life-saving services&quot; at risk. Since the Taliban regained power in 2021, Afghan women have been barred from doing most jobs, visiting parks and beauty salons, and attending school beyond the age of 12. In September, the Taliban authorities began prohibiting women staff members from entering UN offices. &quot;We call for the ban on Afghan women staff and contractors from entering United Nations premises to be reversed, and for their safe access to offices and the field,&quot; Susan Ferguson, the special representative of the UN&#39;s women&#39;s agency in Afghanistan, said in a statement. &quot;The longer these restrictions remain in place, the greater the risk to these life-saving services,&quot; Ferguson said, adding that they violated the UN&#39;s principles of human rights and equality. The statement did not say how many staff were affected, but UN sources indicated that several hundred women were facing the ban. Staff have been working remotely for the past three months, notably providing assistance to the victims of deadly earthquakes and to Afghan migrants deported from neighboring Pakistan and Iran, Ferguson said. Describing their work as &quot;indispensable,&quot; she said: &quot;Only through their presence can we reach women and girls safely and provide culturally appropriate assistance.&quot; The Taliban authorities did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment. In September, the UN&#39;s refugee agency suspended cash aid to returned Afghan migrants, citing the impossibility of interviewing and collecting information on more than 50% of returnees who were women.

Since the Taliban regained power in 2021, Afghan women have been barred from doing most jobs, visiting parks and beauty salons, and attending school beyond the age of 12.

Articles tagged with "Women in Afghanistan"