U.N. report: Afghanistan teeters on brink of universal poverty

UNDP said Afghanistan’s foreign reserves now cover just one week of imports, which the country is heavily reliant on for oil, food and machinery

Afghanistan is teetering on the brink of “universal poverty” that could become a reality in the middle of next year unless are made to bolster local communities and their economies, the United Nations development agency said in a report launched September 9. It said the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan has put 20 years of steady economic gains at risk. The U.N. Development Program outlined four scenarios for Afghanistan following the Taliban’s takeover that project the country’s GDP will decline between 3.6% and 13.2% in the next fiscal year starting in June 2022, depending on the intensity of the crisis and how much the world engages with the Taliban.