By Zeba Siddiqui

(Reuters) – After being unpaid for several months, and having many people to feed, Khalilullah Tawhidyar, an Afghan assistant was able to find temporary work at a construction site. The 300 Afghanis (3.30 USD) he received that day allowed him to buy provisions for his family.

A former member of the government’s taskforce for educational reform, the teacher of English at Parwan University, just north of Kabul is among thousands of educated Afghans who are fighting poverty in a country where its economy is struggling.

Tawhidyar said that he didn’t have a choice and had been without a salary for the past three months. “This is what many educated people are experiencing right now.

Afghanistan, already struggling with severe droughts and the coronavirus pandemic has seen its financial crisis worsen since mid-August when the Taliban returned to power.

International aid has dried up to the extent that the international community is trying to find a way of interacting with the Islamist hardliners. Billions in foreign assistance are now gone, while billions in foreign currency reserve have been locked away in West bank vaults.

Victor Moses is the director of CARE in Afghanistan.

A report by the group last month said close to half of Afghanistan’s population – around 19 million people – face acute hunger. Recent UN reports have shown that 97% of Afghanistan’s population may fall below the poverty line in the next 2022.

Over the weekend, the Taliban renewed calls https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/taliban-says-failure-recognise-their-government-could-have-global-effects-2021-10-30 for their government to be recognised, saying that a failure to do so and the continued freezing of Afghan funds abroad would lead to problems not only for the country but for the world.

FIGHT FOR FOOD

Tawhidyar is a graduate of India with a Master’s Degree and has also attended courses at Sri Lanka and Malaysia.

He sometimes works at the university, but classes are not resumed due to lack of funds.

Tawhidyar, like many Afghan families, lives with 17 members of his extended family.

The 36-year old said, “I was just making enough money to cover my needs.” After his income stopped, he took out loans from relatives and friends, which lasted for weeks. He was pregnant and had been absent from two of his doctor’s appointments.

He said, “The problem was that we did not have bread. We were only cooking rice. The rice then finished.”

Syed Bashir Aalemy is the head of Tawhidyar’s English language department. He said that he has been working as an Uber driver for the last few weeks.

Aalemy stated, “There’s no alternative.” He added that fuel prices are rising means that this work could dry up.

A visible result of Western 20-year involvement in Afghanistan was the growth of a educated middle class working for education or government, aid groups or media companies and telecoms providers.

Many of these people fled the chaos that followed August’s surprise victory by the Taliban, afraid for a return back to the Taliban’s harsh rule and limited freedoms. Even among those in the best of circumstances, financial difficulties are common for those still living.

Abdul, 41, is an ex-police officer from Kabul, and father of four.

Abdul said that the 300 to 500 afghanis he made each day wasn’t enough to feed his six-member family. He declined to reveal his last name because of security concerns.

DEBTS PILE UP

Tawhidyar claimed he was carrying building materials at the site and that a friend snapped a photo of him.

He said that he had posted an emotive message to Facebook in October, featuring the photo. “I was thinking about my journey in life.”

His post went viral quickly, with many people sharing it on social media. Many of his friends also reached out to offer support and financial assistance.

He said that he borrowed $300 from his close friends, who insist that he take the money.

But how much longer will I be able to borrow? “I already have thousands of dollars in debt.”

In fear of backlash and being warned by Afghans that support Taliban rule, he stated that he has since removed the post from his Facebook page and disabled it.

The university salary would not be paid, so he stated that he will have to work again in manual labor.