Afghans sell possessions amid cash crunch, looming crisis

The Taliban takeover, and the resulting cut in international funds, has exacerbated an already dire economic situation.

Kabul, Afghanistan – Shukrullah brought four carpets to sell in Kabul’s Chaman-e Hozori neighbourhood. The area is full of refrigerators, cushions, fans, pillows, blankets, silverware, curtains, beds, mattresses, cookware and shelves that hundreds of others carried to sell. The goods line the blocks surrounding the once grassy field that has turned to dirt and dust, the result of decades of inattention and drought. Each item amounts to a part of a life families built over the last 20 years in the Afghan capital. Now, they are all being sold at a pittance to feed those very households. “We bought these carpets for 48,000 Afghanis [$556], but now I can’t get more than 5,000 Afghanis [$58] for all of them,” Shukrullah says, as people rummage through the goods on display.