Afghanistan's humanitarian crisis is the product of over four decades of continuous conflict, foreign intervention, and political instability. From the Soviet invasion in 1979 through the civil war of the 1990s, the Taliban's first period of rule, the US-led intervention following September 11, 2001, and the Taliban's return to power in August 2021, the Afghan people have endured an unbroken cycle of violence, displacement, and deprivation. Each phase of conflict has layered new traumas upon existing ones, creating one of the most complex and deeply rooted humanitarian emergencies in the world.
The Taliban's seizure of Kabul in August 2021, following the withdrawal of US and NATO forces, triggered an immediate humanitarian and economic crisis. The freezing of approximately $9 billion in Afghan central bank reserves by the United States and the suspension of international development assistance caused the banking system to seize up and the economy to contract by an estimated 20 percent within months. Civil servants, including teachers and healthcare workers, went unpaid for extended periods. The formal economy, heavily dependent on international aid that constituted roughly 75 percent of public spending, effectively collapsed.