Afghanistan The third largest city Herat (Herat), there is a village composed of thousands of small mud houses. Here are Afghans who have fled from other places for decades. This village does not have much infrastructure, and most shops are not very good, but the fronts of the pharmacies are often bustling. This is certainly not because the hard-earned Afghans have money to treat their illness, but because they need to buy "food" from the pharmacies to prevent babies from crying.
"The reason we went to the pharmacy was to buy pills for our children to eat so that they could feel drowsy."
"Our children kept crying, they didn't sleep because they had no food available." Abdul Wahab immediately rushed forward with eleven other people when he saw the reporter visit.
In Afghanistan and other poor countries, the visits of journalists, crews and international institutions will often give the respondents some benefits, which may be a US dollar or some food. And these two are irresistible temptations for Afghans.
"Many of us use this medicine to give babies because it not only makes them quiet but also is cheap." Ghulam Hazrat, one of the twelve people, actively spoke in exchange for rewards, and did not forget to take out a pill from his pocket.
This is a drug called "alprazolam", which is mainly used to treat anxiety disorders. The price is much cheaper than a piece of bread that is sufficiently wrapped or mushy - a slice of bread or 10 afghani (about $0.1) can be exchanged for 5 alprazolam.
"I have six children, the youngest one is 1 year old this year, and I have to give him this medicine." Guram said.
is not just Guram treating his children like this. Alprazolam is of good quality and low price, and is the helpless choice for many Afghans when they are short of money.
Because Afghanistan is really too poor.
In the periphery of Herat, most of the men who live here are daily wage workers, while women have little chance of employment. The poor people outside Herat mainly earn daily wages, but most of them do not have stable jobs now.
, even the days when you can find a job are "special" - and such a job can only earn about 100 Afghani, slightly more than 1 US dollar.
1 days to earn 1 USD, and work may be launched in a few days a month. Most Afghans have to come up with this worst because of the poor food.
is a sedative medicine of 0.1 USD 5 tablets, and it is not cheap for some families who are penniless.
Therefore, in a desert and ruins in Herat, a four-story kidney hospital was towering in a short time on a vacant land near the slums. However, the poor in Afghanistan certainly cannot afford this private hospital, and the nephrology hospital opened next to the slums is not their wallets, but their kidney .
This is an "illegal kidney trading hospital" that has existed in the Taliban's power shortly after its invasion.
However, the real profit of this hospital was after the Taliban came to power...
Ammar is a twenty-year-old young man in the Herat slum. However, for him, youth does not mean being unrestrained and free. Instead, you need to bear the life of yourself and your wife.
Afghanistan has a bad economic environment and Amal does not have enough cattle and sheep, so he has been living a life of debt since 2021.
The frequent visits and the increasing interest rates of creditors eventually became the last straw that broke Amar's back.
Although he and his wife have tried their best to reduce the family's expenses.
"If we eat this night, we will not eat until the next night."
Three months ago, Amar finally decided to go to the nephrology hospital outside the slum, between the yellow sand and the ruins, and sold one of his own kidneys for 270,000 Afghani (about 3,100 US dollars). Most of this large amount of money is used to repay debts.
The remaining money, Amar is going to use it for life, maybe buying a few lambs , but how long can such a life last
"After selling my kidneys, I feel like half a person. I feel desperate. If life continues like this, I think I may die." Amar said.
And Amar's experience is becoming more and more common in Afghanistan.
During the Afghan government period, the "shoulder exchange for money" incidents were common. Although the Afghan government explicitly prohibits it, legislation stipulates that "organ trading" is an illegal act. But it is just like growing drugs, trafficking of women and children, surrogacy and blood sales are illegal in Afghanistan, but it is not uncommon in secret, and the same is true for organ trading.
can be used during the Afghan government period, although Afghanistan was also in poverty due to war and other factors. However, due to the continued assistance from the United States, although "organ trading" in Afghanistan is rampant, it is not very common.
However, as the Taliban took power in August last year, the new government did not receive international recognition, and foreign funds flowing into Afghanistan were frozen, which directly triggered an economic collapse, resulting in many Afghans not working for most days.
Nizamuddin's family is even worse than Amar.
A few years ago, their family wanted to live a better life, so they borrowed money and bought more than a dozen sheep. Unfortunately, a blizzard that year made all the sheep in the Nizamudin family freeze to death.
The flock is gone, but the debt is still there.
Faced with the repeated visits from creditors, Nizamudin and his wife, who were unable to bear the harassment, discussed, his wife finally chose to go to the nephrology hospital outside Herat and sold one of his kidneys, but the 240,000 Afghani received was not enough to pay off the debt.
And this year, the interest rates of creditors are getting higher and higher. Seeing that Nizamudin and his wife are unable to repay their debts, they proposed to use their two-year-old daughter to pay off the debt.
"I feel very ashamed of our situation. Sometimes I feel that living like this is worse than dying."
"For 100,000 Afghanistan, we may have to sell our 2-year-old daughter." Nizamudin's eyes were filled with tears, but he had no choice, because although Afghanistan is in modern times, the local society still follows the ancient traditions of the medieval era.
This is also the reason why Afghanistan has controlled Afghanistan in a short period of time, before the US military has completely withdrawn. They opened courts outside the city, practiced teachings, and followed ancient traditions. In order to avoid the high litigation costs of the official court, the citizens of the city chose to appeal in the Taliban court in the mountains.
Afghanistan has fallen to this point. Of course, the Taliban is still to blame, but the United States is also to blame. It was the Afghan War launched by the United States that eventually destroyed this country. During the years when the US military stationed, although it has long been transfusions to Afghanistan, it has not really improved the lives of Afghans.
The difference between the Taliban and the US garrison period is that more people may sell their kidneys and children, and poverty has not changed, and perhaps it is just poorer. But the Taliban is indeed trying to improve the country's economic situation, such as introducing foreign capital to mine minerals and opening natural gas pipeline projects.However, the Taliban, which implements the rule of law in the country, is still incompatible with modern society, and its bad relations with some of the neighboring countries (Iran, , Pakistan, ) also makes it difficult for Afghanistan to obtain help from its geographical neighbors.
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