Three young adults, including a 22-year-old woman, have died of suicide in the past 48 hours in Faryab and Paktia provinces, local sources tell Zan Times.
A 19-year-old boy named Ehsanullah, a resident of Police District 6 of Maimana city in Faryabdied of suicide, a local source reports. “This young man has committed suicide in his room on Saturday, November 19, at 7:30 a.m.,” adds the source, who adds that mental health issues were likely the reason why Ehsanullah died by hanging himself.
That same day, a 28-year-old man named Halimullah, a resident of Sarokhil village in Garda-seri District of Paktia, shot himself. A close relative tells Zan Times that he died of suicide in his bedroom; the reason for his death isn’t known.
Then, on Sunday, November 20, a 22-year-old woman from Shirin Tagab District of Faryab died after eating rat poison. “This young girl, Hajera, has committed suicide because of family problems,” explains a local source, who asked not to be named.
Reports in the past year indicate that suicide rates among youths and women are increasing amid growing restrictions by the Taliban, domestic violence, poverty, unemployment, and lack of certainty about future.
In particular, the youth suicide rate is on the rise since the Taliban took over. Security problems, poverty, unemployment, family pressures, forced and underage marriages, patriarchy in families, drug addiction, and continuous war, are among the leading causes of mental illnesses in Afghanistan. Not only are many families having to decide between feeding themselves or seeking mental health for their children, but many agencies that used to provide help have closed in the past year.
In October, the non-profit Save the Children reported that “Afghanistan is on the brink of a mental health catastrophe as the economic crisis and decades of conflict take a dangerous toll on children’s mental and psychosocial wellbeing.” According to the report, 4.5 million children and adults in Afghanistan need psychotherapy and support but only around 1.3 million were able to access any services at all. Their situation is so desperate that the United Nations estimates at least one or two women die by suicide every day in Afghanistan.
