The street market in the Afghan border town of Torkham in Nangraha province has “gone silent.” Anxiety about the future is rising as trade halts and incomes dry up, a local shopkeeper tells Truthdig. His name has been withheld for his protection, as have most names in this piece.
Pakistan declared open war against Afghanistan in late February, but border insecurity and clashes have affected supply chains since mid-2025, when tensions between the two countries began to increase. The conflict is the latest issue compounding other dire factors over the past five years, including U.S. sanctions on Afghanistan, humanitarian aid cuts, flooding and droughts. Together, they have left Afghanistan with one of the world’s most fragile economies and are contributing to severe poverty, unemployment and, ultimately, widespread mental health battles.
“I feel isolated, I have lost my patience. Unemployment has affected my mental health,” Palwasha (a pseudonym) tells Truthdig. She is a young Afghan woman who used to have short-term contract jobs, but she has struggled to get an income since 2021, when the Taliban returned to power and the U.S. froze Afghan government reserves held in U.S. bank accounts. “I feel isolated, I have lost my patience.” “After the Taliban came, I worked for a short time on a project,” she says. “But it was shut down by the authorities. Later I found another job, but it also ended after only 10 days.”
Across Afghanistan, thousands of young people like Palwasha — including university graduates and skilled workers — are struggling with prolonged unemployment. Data is scarce, with the International Labor Organization’s latest figures dating to 2021 , and the World Bank reporting 25.64% female unemployment in 2024. Economic collapse
News breaks as I write this. The conflict with Pakistan is getting worse, and the Afghan government says 400 people were killed in a Pakistan strike on a Kabul drug treatment hospital. Forensic laboratory sources later confirmed to the BBC that over 100 people people were killed in the attack. Prior to that, the government had reported that so far this year, Pakistan attacks had killed 110 individuals — including 65 women and children, injured 123 civilians, displaced 8,400 families and destroyed more than 350 houses. The United Nations says heavy shelling and airstrikes have triggered a significant humanitarian crisis, displacing more than 100,000 people from their homes along the border. Some 4,000 young men have now registered to fight, possibly seeing little future in peaceful economic activities. We “need practical training programs and professional seminars.” Young men lack professional opportunities for work. We “need practical training programs and professional seminars,” Mohammed Bilal tells Truthdig. An agriculture graduate from Laghman University in 2021, he has been unemployed since then, and he says young men are increasingly frustrated as work possibilities disappear.
“I had many hopes after graduating,” he says. “But unfortunately the situation changed .… I never received any responses to my job applications.” Bilal believes unemployment has broader social consequences. “Unemployment creates psychological problems and leads to family conflicts,” he says, explaining that he has considered leaving the country because his future is so limited.
He’s not alone. After the U.S.’ decision in August 2021 to freeze nearly $9.5 billion of Afghanistan’s foreign reserves — previously used to stabilize Afghanistan’s currency, pay for imports such as food and fuel, and maintain the country’s banking system — Afghan banks faced a severe liquidity crisis , businesses struggled to conduct international transactions, and ordinary citizens could not easily withdraw their savings . While the government recently eased withdrawal limits, many people still depend on informal and nontraditional banking systems. The freeze was part of broader U.S. sanctions that include barring U.S. citizens from dealing with the country.
At the same time, most international development aid to Afghanistan ceased after 2021 with the U.S.’ withdrawal of troops from the country. Before that, foreign assistance funded around 75% of public spending, including salaries for teachers, health care workers and civil servants. Major donors, including the United States , the World Bank and the European Union all halted aid. Many international projects that had employed thousands of Afghans were canceled or scaled back, leaving large numbers of people suddenly without work. Humanitarian funding declined from between $3 billion and $4 billion in 2022 to $1.7 billion in 2024.
The resulting conditions for many people in Afghanistan are dire. Jamila (a pseudonym) is a mother of eight who lives in Kabul with her husband, who is disabled and unable to work, as well as her extended family.
“There are 30 of us living in one house,” she tells Truthdig. “We do not even have a cow or animals,” she says. “We have nothing.” Jamila, her face concealed, sits with several of her children outside their home in Kabul, Afghanistan, in March 2026. She is skilled in tailoring and handicrafts but says she lacks the resources to start a small business. [Photo by Meena Balkhi (a pseudonym).] She is skilled in tailoring and handicrafts, and says she would do sewing work if she could, but lacks the resources to start a small business. As it is, “I do not have money for pens or books for my children,” she says.
Her situation reflects a broader national trend. As job opportunities decline, many households are forced to rely on humanitarian aid or informal labor to survive. However, with the decline in aid and the poor and irregular pay for informal labor, hunger is increasing in Afghanistan. In March 2026, 17.4 million people were expected to face acute hunger.
Restrictions imposed by the Taliban have also deepened the crisis. Since 2021, authorities have banned girls from attending secondary school and universities and imposed sweeping limits on women’s employment and movement. Aid cuts also affect disaster relief. On top of last year’s powerful earthquake that killed 2,200 people, Afghanistan has also faced frequent floods and landslides triggered by heavy rainfall and climate change. In January this year, floods killed at least 17 people and affected infrastructure and farmland, and in the summer months of last year, the country was hit by its worst drought in 30 years. Farmers and food security were severely affected. A recent climate vulnerability report found that 79% of internal displacement during the first three months of 2025 was driven by environmental hazards such as drought, water shortages, soil erosion and earthquakes — pushing families from their homes and disrupting livelihoods. Such disasters often mean permanent job losses. Farmers lose crops and livestock, seasonal workers can’t find farms to harvest, and local markets remain closed for months. These setbacks leave many feeling hopeless about their futures. With little or no savings, families are forced to borrow money, sell assets or reduce food consumption — choices that take a toll on mental well-being.
The emotional cost of unemployment
Drought, high unemployment and restrictions on women in public life are contributing to extreme economic precarity. “I studied so much, but it feels pointless,” says Shabnam (a pseudonym). She completed her degree in Persian-Dari at Nangarhar University in 2022, and hoped her studies would open the door to a stable career. Instead, she has spent the past four years sending out job applications with no success.
“I have applied to many government and nongovernment organizations,” she tells Truthdig. “A few replied with rejections, and most never responded.”
“Unemployment has affected every part of my daily life,” she says. “When I had a job, I could help reduce some of my family’s financial problems, but now the pressure is greater.” The emotional toll is severe, she says, “Sometimes I cannot organize my [domestic] work or motivate myself to do anything. I often stay awake late at night and cannot sleep. It is very painful to think that despite so much education and effort, I still cannot find a job.”
Mental health professionals say such experiences are becoming increasingly common. A psychologist working in Afghanistan, who asked not to be identified for her safety, says the number of patients seeking psychological support has risen sharply in recent years. “Unemployment has affected every part of my daily life.” “Economic problems are the most common issue,” she tells Truthdig, adding that many patients are young people who once had jobs but are now unemployed.
“When someone loses their job, their social status is affected,” she says. “They begin to think negatively about everything.” Some patients report depression, anxiety and hopelessness about the future.
“We have seen cases where people attempted suicide after schools closed or because they could not find work,” the psychologist says.
Further, in earthquake- and climate-affected regions of Afghanistan, mental health professionals say distress manifests in many forms: lingering fear of aftershocks, chronic stress about food and shelter, insomnia, and a pervasive sense of uncertainty about the future. In many cases, survivors are reluctant or unable to seek help — partly because mental health services are limited and partly due to the social stigma attached to psychological suffering.
Women face deeper isolation
For Afghan women, unemployment often brings an additional layer of hardship. The restrictions on women’s work and education have forced many professionals to remain at home. Women also aren’t allowed to be in public spaces without a male guardian, further limiting their ability to work or look for work. The psychologist explains that women who once had careers are particularly affected.
“Women who previously worked outside the home now face more serious psychological problems than those who always stayed at home,” she says, adding that unemployed men can at least go out and do other things, but women can’t. For Palwasha, this isolation has intensified her distress. “I stay home all day,” she says. “Even if I go outside, there is no income to meet daily needs.” Navida (a pseudonym) was unable to finish her university degree when the education ban came into effect. She describes how the work restrictions have created severe economic hardship for families, and also notes rising social pressures in her community as a result of increased poverty. “I have seen families marry off their daughters at a young age because of economic problems,” she says. A woman works on her sewing machine inside a home in Kandahar, Afghanistan, where work continues despite restrictions, in June 2025. [Photo by Meena Balkhi (a pseudonym)] The cycle of droughts, economic crisis and mental strain also feeds into broader social challenges. Young people, already discouraged by unemployment, now see their communities fractured — schools destroyed, farms unproductive and traditional safety nets eroded. Many express deep anxiety about the future, questioning whether Afghanistan can ever recover.
Despite the challenges, some young Afghans still believe education and perseverance will eventually lead to change.
Khadija (a pseudonym), an economics graduate from Kabul, says the years since graduation have been difficult, and she has not been able to find work.
“I studied very hard,” she tells Truthdig. “But sometimes I feel that my efforts were wasted.”
Her message to other young people is one of resilience. “Conditions are difficult now, but we should not lose hope,” she says. “Continue studying. One day schools will reopen and better days will come.”
For many young Afghans, the mental health crisis unfolding across the country is inseparable from the broader economic and political turmoil shaping daily life. They say the path forward depends on changes far beyond their individual control — the reopening of schools and workplaces, the return of jobs and international trade, and an end to the violence that continues to unsettle the country. Until then, a generation that once looked to education and work as a path to stability continues to wait for a chance to rebuild its future.
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