“Afghans are increasingly turning to specialist shops for secondhand products. Many people try to sell their possessions in order to meet immediate demands, while others look for low-cost items that they can afford “Sayyed Khalid, the shop’s owner, told Xinhua on Wednesday. Growing poverty and unemployment in cash-strapped Afghanistan have given rise to the business of trading second-hand home appliances and commodities since the Taliban took over the country in mid-August. The impoverished country has been beset by economic troubles as a result of the freezing of almost $9 billion in US dollars.

The United States has frozen the assets of Afghanistan’s central bank, as well as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Thousands of Afghans have been waiting in huge lines to withdraw their savings since late August. The Afghan central bank issued an order to all banks on Aug. 28 imposing a temporary limit of 200 US dollars ($20,000 afghani) per customer every week.

“We have a quiet environment since the Taliban took over Afghanistan,” Khalid remarked, “but the economy can’t breathe right now.”

He noticed that small firms and industries were crumbling, and that development of buildings and houses had been halted, while the number of shoppers in business centers was declining.

“As their living conditions worsen, more Afghans choose for second-hand clothes and shoes,” trader Kamaluddin told Xinhua on Wednesday.

“I came to shop because the goods are inexpensive. Many people have lost their jobs as a result of recent political upheavals. Before emigrating to other nations, they sell their household goods. They’re leaving the country “he stated

According to official estimates, 54.5 percent of Afghans lived in poverty in 2019, but that percentage rose to 72 percent in 2020. During a meeting with US representatives in Doha, Qatar’s capital, a Taliban delegation requested the US side to ease the restriction on Afghan assets.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres sent an appeal to the Taliban on Monday, urging them to comply with their human rights and humanitarian commitments.

“Afghanistan’s economy is on the verge of collapsing. In many regions, banks are closed and crucial services, like as healthcare, have been suspended. I implore the international community to intervene and inject cash into the Afghan economy in order to prevent it from collapsing “Guterres sent out a tweet.

He claimed that if the international world does not assist Afghans now, it will pay a high price.

In September, the UN and other relief agencies delivered food assistance to 3.8 million Afghans, while 450,000 people received healthcare services from the UN and other agencies.

According to Guterres, the international community and the UN must look for methods to establish conditions that would allow Afghan professionals and civil officials to continue serving the Afghan people in the cash-strapped and aid-dependent Central Asian country.

“I’ve brought some of my household appliances to sell in order to address my financial troubles,” said Sayyed Abed, a Kabul resident who hopes the international world can assist in alleviating the Afghan people’s suffering.

Abed also urged Afghan leaders to come together, put their differences aside, and work together to build a government that is inclusive. In a number of ministries, including education and public health, the Taliban’s newly constituted caretaker administration recently paid salaries to government employees for two months.

Since July, the majority of the state’s 400,000 employees have been without pay.

“It is a government’s moral obligation to provide basic essentials to its citizens,” he stated.

Source: Xinhua News Agency