Taliban launches ‘Work for Food’ program
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It is the first gesture of the Taliban government in the face of the famine threatening Afghanistan. The country remains cut off from international aid and suffers from a shortage of cash.
The new authorities in Kabul on Sunday announced the establishment of a program to help the poorest. According to the Taliban, this initiative will take the form of a contract: work for food. It consists of employing tens of thousands of men in the country’s largest city – 40,000 men in Kabul – in order to perform community service. For example, this will involve digging canals and trenches to collect snow or rainwater which is lacking in many areas.
In exchange for these services rendered, the Taliban administration has promised to mobilize 65,000 tons of wheat as wages that will be distributed to the families of these workers by the end of the year.
Children are dying of starvation
In a country already suffering from povertyDrought, power outages and the economic system to failThe humanitarian crisis broke out very quickly and is already wreaking havoc. According to the Afghan press, eight children of the same family died of starvation a few days ago in a poor neighborhood in western Kabul.
The end of the year promises to be dramatic, as hundreds of thousands of people deprived of provisions and firewood prepare to face what can be a harsh winter with temperatures that can dip to -25 degrees Celsius in mountainous regions.
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(With France Press agency)
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