Groups of Afghan women, including medics and volunteers, have rushed to eastern Afghanistan to aid those hit hardest by this week’s earthquake, especially children and other women. They do this even as the Taliban government bans their education and restricts their work, while the world largely turns away in response to these same restrictions.
If the Taliban government does not change its policies, and if the world does not take a firm stance, this could be the very last generation of professional Afghan women. Their skills and influence are at risk of disappearing entirely.
The irony is cruel: the Afghan people never voted the Taliban government into power, yet they bear hunger, isolation, and suffering, carrying the weight of political decisions made beyond their control.
Their resources are limited, and they are worn down by hunger and isolation yet still cling fiercely to survival, like much of their country. That’s especially poignant in the wake of a devastating earthquake that has killed thousands.
Monday night’s powerful earthquake left devastation in its wake, and early reports indicate that more than 2,000 people were killed, with many more injured. But in the region’s rugged, mountainous terrain, the true toll may not be known for weeks, with rescue efforts falling largely to survivors themselves.
Families are combing through the rubble of their shattered villages, searching desperately for the remains of loved ones.
In scenes caught on film and shared online, a young man in Kunar province stood motionless beside the lifeless bodies of his wife and children, telling reporters he wanted nothing: no food, no shelter, no aid, only a pair of hands to help him dig. All he asked for was the chance to lay his family to rest with dignity in the earth of their homeland. This is the clearest window into the tragedy.
And the danger is not yet past.
On Thursday, heavy tremors shook the capital, Kabul. Aftershocks continued to ripple through already devastated areas, a chilling reminder that the country’s fragile infrastructure and its exhausted people remain at risk.
Survivors are waiting for shelter, clean water, sanitation, and medical care that never arrives quickly enough, while the Taliban government, already crippled by sanctions and a collapsed economy, is struggling to manage a catastrophe of this magnitude.
Afghanistan’s humanitarian catastrophe is not only the result of natural disasters or political repression, but to a large extent the predictable outcome of sanctions that strangle the economy, and cut off financial lifelines.
UNICEF has warned that thousands of children are at risk.
Save the Children described the earthquake not simply as another natural disaster but as a collision of crises. In a message from Kunar on September 3, a staff member said that entire villages had been destroyed, noting that while water, food, and shelter are urgently needed to survive the coming nights, sustainable funding and international support will be essential for families to rebuild.
Following the Taliban takeover in August 2021, Afghanistan was thrust into near-total economic isolation. Development aid stopped, foreign reserves were frozen, and international banks withdrew. The United States alone suspended over $1.8 billion in promised aid.
The United Nations reprioritized its humanitarian efforts, reducing the number of people receiving assistance from 16.8 million to 12.5 million, but to mitigate the impact, the U.N. Security Council passed Resolution 2615 in December 2021, carving out some humanitarian exemptions.
On paper, this should have protected ordinary Afghans. In practice, it has not made much difference.
Aid comes with secrecy, fear, and constant caution, as organizations navigate the risks of sanctions and Taliban restrictions. Every dollar that goes to Afghanistan is scrutinized, criticized, and often assumed to benefit the Taliban, despite repeated assurances that aid is delivered directly to the Afghan people through neutral channels. Banks, insurers, and suppliers overcomply, avoiding even legal transactions rather than risking penalties. Aid groups report delays of months to transfer funds or buy medical supplies.
As a result, clinics were closed before the earthquake struck, and urgent rescue operations are now largely paralyzed, compared to similar situations elsewhere.
When a devastating earthquake struck Turkiye in 2023, over 90 countries and numerous organizations rushed in support, sending rescue teams, doctors, nurses, and humanitarian aid. The United Nations Development Program alone mobilized nearly $60 million for recovery efforts, from reviving livelihoods to managing debris.
The contrast is stark. Turkiye, a far wealthier NATO member with stronger infrastructure, cannot be compared to Afghanistan, a country that has endured nearly five decades of continuous war. Yet it received far more aid and assistance in its hour of need.
While sanctions are intended to pressure rulers, the tragedy in Afghanistan is that they fall most heavily on those least responsible. Without functioning banking channels, aid agencies, small businesses, and individual donors are effectively paralyzed. Liquidity dries up, inflation surges, food and fuel prices soar, and households buckle under the strain. Health clinics close, schools falter, and even legal aid grinds to a halt as institutions fear running afoul of sanctions enforcement.
Meanwhile, those in power adapt. Afghanistan’s rulers generate income through customs, trade taxation, and informal markets. Elites remain insulated; civilians suffer.
Decades of research suggest that blanket sanctions rarely work. A landmark study by Gary Hufbauer, Jeffrey Schott, and Kimberly Elliott found sanctions succeed in only about one-third of cases, often when paired with military pressure rather than on their own. Robert Pape, a political scientist, argued their effectiveness is overstated, pointing out that in most cases governments weather sanctions while citizens pay the price.
History supports this.
In the 1990s, Iraq faced crippling U.N. sanctions that devastated public health and contributed to spikes in child mortality, yet Saddam Hussein remained in power until war removed him. Iran and North Korea present similar cases.
And the past four years in Afghanistan tells a similar story.
U.N. agencies estimate tens of millions need assistance, with earlier warnings that up to 97 percent of Afghans could fall into poverty now largely realized. Food insecurity is rampant, clinics and schools are closing, and women and children remain most vulnerable. Layering sanctions onto this reality is not neutral. It is an active choice to slow or block lifesaving relief.
The recent earthquake only exposed what Afghans already knew: that limited humanitarian exemptions mean little when cash cannot flow, suppliers refuse contracts, and aid planes cannot land.
Calling for ending sanctions on Afghanistan does not mean giving its rulers carte blanche. Sanctions targeted at specific individuals, officials, or entities could be a far more effective approach to alleviate suffering while maintaining leverage over the Taliban.
Afghanistan, mainly its women, need a free global presence, including NGOs, international organizations, and aid groups, to generate work, create hope, and lift the country from the suffocating atmosphere of abandonment, allowing Afghans to help themselves.
When Afghan women, their poverty and starvation evident in their bony hands, continue to cling to hope and reach out to support those in devastation, it is time the world asked itself an ethical question: when will these hands be held, instead of left to struggle alone?
And at stake is not only humanitarian principle but also regional stability.
Sanctions and international isolation have left the Taliban government weakened and fragile. Natural disasters, along with thousands of refugees returning from Pakistan and Iran, add further strain to a system already hanging by a thread, creating fertile ground for the Islamic State to recruit among desperate youth.
If Afghanistan spirals further, the consequences will not stop at its borders.