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Words: Amanda HodgeProducer: Louise Starkey

"Like a jail": Afghanistan teeters on brink of collapse

More than 100 days on from the Taliban regaining control of Afghanistan and suppressing the freedoms of citizens, the country is on the brink of collapse and famine.

Millions of girls have been forbidden from going to school, many women have been told not to go to work and others have been beaten for protesting their right to do either.

Ex-soldiers, government officials and critics who have opposed the militant group's undertaking have turned up dead or been brazenly executed in public.

Yet with millions of Afghans now out of work, many businesses and banks shuttered and billions of dollars in foreign aid and cash reserves frozen, the predominant fear now is not the insecurity that has dogged the population for four decades but hunger as the savage winter sets in.

US, Australian and allied forces helped evacuate about 123,000 Afghans and foreign citizens after the Islamist takeover.

Tens of thousands more have poured over land borders seeking asylum.

However, 35 million people remain in Afghanistan — and the Taliban is yet to fill thousands of government positions following the dramatic exodus that emptied the country's cities of its educated and professional class.

"There are literally life and death situations happening 24/7. It feels like the train is coming and there are people tied to the tracks on one side and people tied on the other and you have to decide where to turn the train. How do you make such a decision?"

Obaidullah Baheer

Former University of NSW student | Grandson of ex-Afghan prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar

Warnings of impending disaster in Afghanistan are coming in relentless waves. Twenty-three million Afghans face starvation this winter and a million children may die as the country hurtles towards "unprecedented fiscal shock" from a forecast 20 per cent drop in the country's GDP.

"They say after these winter holidays they will start school for girls again. When I see it I will believe it."

Mahbouba Seraj

Founder of the Afghan Women’s Network

With billions of dollars in foreign health funds stalled for fear of it falling into Taliban hands, 2331 clinics have closed, leaving 25,000 health workers unemployed and millions of Afghans with no access to medical services.

Skeletal children crowd onto single beds and women give birth on the floor.

People are threatening to report doctors to the Taliban if they won’t admit relatives.

The Taliban now have the technology to monitor Facebook and LinkedIn, and it's believed they can also trace WhatsApp.

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/web-stories/free/the-australian/like-a-jail-country-teetering-on-the-brink-of-collapse