Taliban Offers Employment in Exchange for Wheat to Deal With Hunger, Poverty

High unemployment, hunger and poverty are predominant issues in Afghanistan. On Sunday, Taliban has launched a ‘Food-for-work’ scheme to fight the situation. 

Zabihullah Mujahid said – “This is an important step for fighting unemployment”, and added that “The laborers must work hard”. Physical work of the laborers will include – digging water channels and catchment terraces for snow in the hills, to combat drought. 

“The programme will be rolled out in and around the major towns of Afghanistan and is expected to employ about 40,000 men in the capital alone” – Taliban’s Chief spokesperson said at a press conference in Southern Kabul. 

Afghanistan has already been suffering from a failing economic system, poverty, drought, electricity blackouts and now there is still more to come as it is now facing an onset of a harsh winter. 

This ‘Food-for-work’ scheme is targeting those people who are currently unemployed and are at a major risk of starvation during winter. In this 2 month program, 11,600 tons of wheat will be distributed in the capital and about 55,000 tons will be distributed around the other parts of the country including – Heart, Jalalabad, Kandahar, Mazar-i-sharif and Pol-i-khomri.  

At the programme’s launch, Mujahid and other senior officials, including – Abdul Rahman Rashid (Agriculture Minister) and Hamdullah Nomani (Kabul’s Mayor), cut a ribbon and dug a small ditch at a ceremony in the rural area of Rish Khor. 

TALIBAN, the Islamic fundamentalist group ruled Afghanistan from 1996 until the U.S. led Invasion in 2001 and twenty years later returned to power in 2021 after regrouping in Pakistan by waging an insurgency against the U.S. –backed government in Kabul.

The group is facing challenges of forming a functioning government and providing health benefits and economic opportunities to Afghans. Let’s hope their program benefits the people of Afghanistan who are in a dire need of the basic necessities of life and livelihood.