Poverty, Crime, and Child Trafficking Engulf Afghanistan // FAI ONLINE

Afghan refugee families in Pakistan (Mohammad Sajjad, Associated Press).

Over 95% of Afghans are at serious risk of poverty, according to a study released by the United Nations Development Project (UNDP). While the Afghan poverty level has already exceeded 50% since the Taliban takeover, the study highlights indicators which, if left unaddressed, will result in near-universal poverty in the near future. A combination of events have exacerbated what was already a tenuous Afghan economy prior to the fall of Kabul, including a drought, the COVID-19 pandemic, and a rapidly-shrinking GDP due to loss of trade and economic sanctions. Closed borders have led to the doubling of food and fuel prices as well, as many Afghan families are forced to chose between food and shelter.

Rising prices and a diminishing supply of currency have led to an increase in crime, including robbery, kidnapping, and human trafficking. Residents of Kabul describe roving bands of armed, unemployed men committing theft, assault, and other crimes on the streets of the capital, lamenting that, “nothing here is in order. Life is not properly normal. Kabul is a lost and dead city.” Meanwhile, the Taliban is still targeting former government officials, and social activists, using government records to identify them and their children, many of which are subsequently kidnapped. Successful businessmen have also been targeted, with over 40 kidnapped in the last two months.

Besides the rising tide of crime, the desperate economic situation had led some Afghan parents to do the unthinkable: traffic their own children to avoid starvation. The sale of pre-pubescent girls as child brides can earn more than $3,000 USD, luring many Afghan fathers to give up one ore more of their own children into sexual slavery in order to feed the rest of their families. Trafficking also remains a primary threat to the almost 120,000 Afghans who were evacuated by NATO forces to military installations in August, as the combination of the disorganized withdrawal, poverty, and overcrowding among refugees in processing centers makes them especially vulnerable to trafficking networks inside Europe.

As always, we invite the global Maranatha family to join us in prayerful intercession on behalf of the people of Afghanistan. We pray that the One who extolled the faith of a child would protect the children of Afghanistan with His sovereign hand. We pray that those Kingdom laborers which remain in the war-torn nation would be empowered by the Spirit and resourced by the Body to meet the needs of their desperate neighbors, and that they would shine a bright light in the midst of the darkest hour in their nation, in the Name of the One who promised a Day when he will bring relief to all who trust in Him.

Maranatha.