The number of streets beggars, unemployed youth and small children begging on streets has increased unprecedentedly in big cities particularly Kabul, the capital. Emran, father of seven children, says he sits on a roadside from morning to evening to work, but there’s no job to do.
“From morning to evening, I get sometimes 150 – 180 AFG per day, which is nothing,” Emran said, adding that with this amount of money I cannot feed my children. A woman begging on a street in Kabul city says her husband has passed away and she is the only breadwinner for her family. “I go to each side-walker to give me 5 – 10 AFG,” the woman said, adding that she goes home with 100 – 150 AFG per day. She further said that she had not begged in her whole live, but now she was responsible to find something to feed her children.
There are also small children who have recently turned to beg on streets in big cities particularly Kabul, the capital. Their families say they have no other option as they are facing with the worst economic problems.
At the same time, there are hundreds of workers spending days to find work to feed their families.
The workers are complaining and saying that they are facing with lots of economic problems, asking the IEA to provide them with some daily work to feed their children.
A university lecturer Ahmadullah Aziz told The Kabul Times that the Islamic Emirate (IEA) should work on a mechanism based on which the miserable and street beggars can find job to feed their families. “Afghanistan is a rich country from the point of agriculture and natural resources; therefore, the IEA should create a board with memberships of domestic and foreign experts to find a way for solution the current economic problems,” Aziz added. On the other hand, the IEA cabinet’s most recent meeting has discussed increasing number of street beggars and the reason while the number has increased recently in the country.
The cabinet meeting has tasked the ministries of labor and social affairs and interior as well as the Afghan Crescent Society to find ways for solution of the issue and take necessary steps in this regard.
It is worth mentioning that thousands of Afghan have lost their jobs and currently most big cities of the country particularly Kabul witness increasing number of street beggars, unemployed youth and daily workers. Hope the Islamic Emirate (IEA) leadership find a way to address this key problem in the country.
Samiullah Momand
Concerns over increasing street beggars in big cities
