Desperate times call for desperate measures: How the economic crisis is forcing Afghans to sell their children

Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan last year has worsened the dire humanitarian situation in the country after 20 years of war and United States occupation.

Since the Taliban took over the country six months ago, Afghanistan has been plagued into a burdening financial crisis and food scarcity to such an extent that it has forced people to sell their children and kidneys.

A lot of Afghans, who are now jobless, debt-ridden, and struggling to feed their children, have taken to selling their kidneys. The practice has become so widespread in the western city of Herat that a nearby settlement is bleakly nicknamed “one-kidney village”.

Let’s take a look at Afghanistan’s worsening humanitarian situation and what has led them to sell their children and kidney:

Dark days for Afghanistan

According to the United Nations, nearly 23 million Afghans out of its total 38 million-strong population are facing starvation, in what has become a hunger crisis of “unparalleled proportions”.

“In Afghanistan, a staggering 95 percent of the population is not eating enough food … It is a figure so high that it is almost inconceivable. Yet, devastatingly, it is the harsh reality,” according to Dr Ramiz Alakbarov, deputy special representative of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Alakbarov said in a statement issued in early March, adding that almost 100 percent of women-led households were experiencing hunger.

Since the Taliban’s return to power, there have been loss of jobs across the board.

According to a report by Al Jazeera, nearly 60 per cent of women working in the media lost their jobs, 90 per cent of whom were sole earners in the family.

The foreign aid which once propped up the country has been slow to return, with the hardline Islamists also cut off from Afghan assets held abroad.

According to AFP, the trickle-down effect has particularly hurt Afghans like Nooruddin, 32, who quit his factory job when his salary was slashed to 3,000 Afghanis (about $30) soon after the Taliban’s return, mistakenly believing he would find something better.

Desperate times call for…

Desperate measures like selling his kidney looked like the only option to Nooruddin. However, it was only a short-term solution.

“I regret it now. I can no longer work. I’m in pain and I cannot lift anything heavy,” he said as quoted by AFP.

Noorudin was among eight people AFP spoke to who had sold a kidney to feed their families or pay off debt — some for as little as $1,500.

A report by Al Jazeera said that sanctions have crippled banks while billions of dollars of Afghanistan’s funds and assets remain frozen abroad.

The UN says it is struggling to figure out how to get humanitarian aid to Afghans while bypassing the Taliban government.

According to another report by the New York Post, the trade of kidneys and children is not new in Afghanistan. Facing a 20 year war, several parts of the country have faced harsh living conditions.

For a lack of jobs, people are forced to beg, collect plastic and paper from trash and do odd jobs for about $0.50-$1.00 per day.

Gulbuddin, 38, told the New York Post that he is currently unable to do any physical work because he sold one of his kidneys before.

Three years ago he sold his 12-year-old daughter Ruziye for $3,500 and a kidney for $2,000 two years ago for the treatment of his wife.

When his wife’s health continued to deteriorate, he sold his 5-year-old daughter for $1,500.
“If someone comes and wants my eye, I can sell it so that my wife can survive,” he said.

The job loss and food insecurity is so dire that nearly 13,700 newborn babies and 26 mothers have died in 2022 due to a lack of nutrition, as per data shared by the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH).

With inputs from agencies

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