RASC News Agency: The Taliban-controlled National Statistics and Information Authority has reported a 1.3% increase in food prices in December 2024 compared to the previous month. The report further underscores that food prices also rose by 1.3% in December 2024, highlighting a consistent upward trend in the cost of essential goods. This surge in prices is particularly noticeable in the vegetable sector, which has experienced a dramatic 26% increase, while sugar and sweets have risen by nearly 3%. Additionally, the United Nations has revealed in a recent report that 22.9 million Afghanistani citizens are in urgent need of humanitarian aid.
With the advent of winter, unemployment rates in Afghanistan are escalating significantly, further compounding the already dire economic challenges faced by the population. Experts warn that the continuation of such conditions will deepen the existing humanitarian crisis, severely limiting families’ access to basic necessities and worsening their quality of life. In 2023, Afghanistan ranked 116th on the Global Hunger Index, a sobering reflection of the acute food insecurity plaguing countless households. The escalating food prices come at a time when the Taliban remains fixated on ideological pursuits and political repression, disregarding the widespread unemployment, poverty, and deprivation affecting the Afghanistani people. Instead of addressing these critical issues, the Taliban is preoccupied with constructing Madrasas, training suicide bombers in jihadist schools, enforcing ethnic and political oppression, persecuting former government employees particularly those from non-Pashtun backgrounds and orchestrating conspiracies against the citizenry.
Meanwhile, the Afghanistani people are left to grapple with the dual crises of extreme poverty and unemployment, with no meaningful intervention to alleviate their suffering. Their plight continues to worsen, leaving millions in desperate need of assistance that remains woefully out of reach.
