Humanitarian Aid: From International Donors to the Tables of Taliban Relatives
For Shafiqa, every night ends with the same worry: what will tomorrow bring for her children?
In a home where there is no bread on the table, the promise of humanitarian assistance feels more like a distant hope than something that will actually reach her family.
Shafiqa, a female head of household in Zabul province, says she has repeatedly seen humanitarian aid arriving in her area, but neither she nor many other women in need have received any assistance.
She told Zan News: “We have no bread on our table. They brought aid to our village and said they would give it to anyone who had a family member martyred while fighting against the republic in jihad. I pleaded repeatedly, but they gave me nothing.”
Shafiqa is not alone. Several widows and women heading households in different parts of Afghanistan say they are struggling with poverty, hunger and unemployment, while assistance intended for families in need is not reaching them.
Nadia, a resident of Baghlan province, said: “There are hundreds of widows and female breadwinners like me who have been deprived of aid. They register our names, but the Taliban give the assistance to their own relatives and family members.”
In Kunduz, Zulaikha, a resident of the province, has a similar account. She says she has repeatedly seen humanitarian aid brought to her area this year but has not received assistance even once.
Zulaikha said: “They brought aid to our area more than ten times this year, but they did not help me even once. They said this assistance was not for me. They registered my name and identity card details, but they take the aid for themselves.”
For women like Shafiqa, Nadia and Zulaikha, humanitarian assistance is more than a food package or a sum of money. Sometimes, such aid can provide several days of food for a family, cover a child’s medical treatment or ensure that a mother and her children have something to eat at night. But they say that even when assistance reaches their villages, they are excluded because of how recipients are selected.
These accounts come as Afghanistan continues to face one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, with millions of people requiring humanitarian assistance to meet their basic needs.
To investigate these allegations, Zan News spoke with several local sources and individuals who have worked in humanitarian aid assessment and distribution.
One of these sources, identified by the pseudonym Saqib because of security concerns, works in the assessment and distribution department of an international organisation.
He says Taliban pressure on humanitarian operations does not begin only at the distribution stage. In some cases, it starts when project locations are selected and recipient lists are prepared.
Saqib told Zan News: “The Taliban in Farah say we can only implement our projects if they are carried out in their areas and more of their relatives are included on the aid recipient lists.”
According to him, refusing these demands can result in projects being suspended or aid organisations being prevented from operating.
He recalled a specific case involving assistance for migrants returning from Iran.
“We had an aid distribution programme for migrants returning from Iran, but the Taliban did not allow us to distribute the assistance in one of the Persian-speaking districts. They said the aid had to be distributed to the people of Pusht Rod district. When we tried to object, they said they would stop the project, and we were forced to proceed according to the Taliban’s wishes.”
Similar accounts have also reached Zan News from Herat.
Informed sources say that a recent humanitarian programme was intended to provide assistance to 321 families returning from Iran and Pakistan. However, according to the sources, a large number of recipients were family members and relatives of individuals affiliated with the Taliban.
One informed source said: “The Taliban want to whitewash their actions, but the reality is different. The Red Crescent aid was distributed only to the families and relatives of Taliban members.”
The source also alleged that ethnic and linguistic affiliations were taken into account during the selection of aid recipients.
Meanwhile, in response to these allegations, sources within the Taliban in Khost and Balkh provinces confirmed to a Zan News reporter that aid was being allocated to the families of Taliban members, describing it as their “right”.
One of these sources said: “During the republic, you and other people had your fill. Now it is the Taliban’s turn. Why are you and others being selfish? Our relatives have a right to this assistance, and aid should be distributed to Taliban families because they serve the country.”
These statements come despite humanitarian principles requiring assistance to be distributed according to people’s needs, without discrimination based on ethnicity, gender or political affiliation.
As Afghanistan faces an economic crisis, unemployment and widespread poverty, women heading households and children remain among the most vulnerable groups.
Depriving these families of life-saving assistance while people close to those in power benefit from these resources could have severe consequences for impoverished households.
