Poverty-stricken Afghans in Kabul and Baghlan provinces must eat dried bread as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to shut down businesses and economic activity in the country.
Residents in Kabul and Baghlan provinces have said that a continued lockdown in the cities has had a significant impact on the economy, and the scale of poverty and hunger has increased.
Khawja Ahmad sells dried bread and says that he saw many people over the past few weeks coming to his shop to buy it for their children’s survival.
“Poor people have lost their jobs and professions because of the lockdown, they are coming to us for dried bread,” said Khawja Ahmad.
Nayeb, a resident in the northern Afghan town of Pul-e-Khumri, says that he has bought dried bread for his seven children for the past week.
“My children were dying yesterday, so I was forced to buy dried fruit and take it home for their survival,” said Nayeb.
“The poor are coming and they buy dried bread for their children. There is nothing, all the shops are closed and the ports are closed,” said Niaz Mohammad, a shopkeeper in Baghlan.
According to numbers from the Afghan Ministry of Economy, nearly half of the 35 million people in Afghanistan live below the poverty line.
“At a time when Afghan children need adequate daily nutrition to help strengthen their immune systems to fight the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the price of basic foods is rising under the lockdown, making it harder for families to feed themselves,” the report said.
