By Mahsa Elham
A group of people with physical disabilities staged a protest in downtown Firozkoh city, the capital of Ghor province on Saturday, December 10. The group of around 20 people were protesting the non-payment of their stipends by the Taliban, city residents say.
Some of the protesters say that the Taliban have not paid their disability payments for the past three months while a few say they received a small part of their expected stipend. This payment stoppage comes at a time when food prices are climbing.
One of the protesters is Ahmad*, a resident of Firozkoh, who lost both his legs in the explosion of a landmine planted by the Taliban two years ago. He is the only breadwinner of his family of four, yet, because the Taliban hasn’t paid his full disability stipend, he cannot afford to buy bread for his family. “My annual stipend is 70,000 afghanis, but the Taliban only paid 2,000 afghanis a month until a few months ago. Now, they are not paying anything and say that they don’t have the budget and you have to wait,” he tells Zan Times.
As of early December, Ahmad had not received his disability payment for three months. He worries that if the Taliban don’t resume the payments, then his children may not be able to survive this cold winter.
Mahmood*, is another person with physical disabilities in Ghor. He lost his right hand in a roadside mine explosion six years ago. Like Ahmad, he has not received his stipend for the last three months. “My annual stipend is 36,000 afghani, which the former government used to give us 3,000 afghanis per month, but the Taliban give us 2,000 afghani per month, which is not enough even for dry bread,” he explains.
An official of the association for the physically disabled in Ghor also criticizes the Taliban’s stoppage of the disability payments. “More budget should be designated for the people with disability, because disabled people can’t do anything. They should be helped by the government and non-governmental institutions,” he says. “That’s why we protested so that our demands must be addressed.”
He points out that at a time of high unemployment, there is little work available to those with physical disabilities, which makes those payments essential to their survival and that of their families, especially as winter approaches.
According to the data of the Directorate of Martyrs and Disabled in Ghor, more than 12,000 people with physical disabilities, including members of the Taliban, have been registered with authorities.
Even before the Taliban’s return to power, almost 80 percent of adults had some form of “physical, functional, sensory or other impairment,” including nearly 14 per cent who are disabled, according to a survey by the Asia Foundation, as well as further analysis by the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission.
Of the 4.5 million people who are disabled, war and roadside mines were the causes of nearly 42 per cent of their disabilities. They live in dire situations, usually with little access to education, work, or healthcare. Often, they are dependent on their families for survival. Now, with many families struggling to eat and many NGOs shuttered after the Taliban takeover, the plight of that already vulnerable population has gotten even more precarious, as they are often left to fend for themselves. And it’s women and girls who are at most risk as the Taliban restricts their rights to both work and education.
*Names have been changed to protect the identity of the interviewees.
