Afghanistan, ravaged by poverty and drought, its economy in tatters, is about to face a harsh winter.
Posted
Reading time : 1 min.
The Taliban government in power in Afghanistan launched, Sunday, October 24, an aid program consisting of giving wheat in exchange for work to tens of thousands of men to fight against hunger across the country. Afghanistan, ravaged by poverty and drought, its economy in tatters, is about to face a harsh winter, when few families are equipped to face it.
The program, which will provide jobs for 40,000 men in Kabul, is also due to start in several other towns, government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told a press conference in the capital. “It is an important step in the fight against unemployment”, he said, specifying that participants will “work hard”.
The program is to last two months, with 11,600 tonnes of wheat distributed as wages in the capital and 55,000 in other major cities in the country such as Herat, Jalalabad or Kandahar. In Kabul, for example, participants will have to dig canals and trenches to collect water and snow in order to fight against the lack of water.
Zabihullah Mujahid and other officials, including Agriculture Minister Abdul Rahman Rashid and Kabul Mayor Hamdullah Numani cut a pink ribbon and dug a small ditch during an inauguration ceremony in Rish Khor, a rural area of the capital.