Three years on from the abrupt change in government in Afghanistan, Tearfund’s partners are continuing to support the Afghan people in the face of humanitarian challenges, economic insecurity and environmental disasters like severe flooding. It’s work that our partners have been doing faithfully there for decades, as James Montgomery, Tearfund’s partnership manager for Afghanistan, shared with Emma Halgren.
Ahmad* smiles as he describes how his life has changed over the past few years. In 2021, Ahmad was diagnosed with an illness that caused him a great deal of pain, as well as the significant financial burden of treatment and medication. This, coupled with a family tragedy and the overall financial stress in his household, meant he felt sad, anxious and unable to engage with his community. Eventually he quit both his job and education, and was increasingly socially isolated.
A community volunteer from one of Tearfund’s partners helped Ahmad to access resources about mental health, as well as medication and counselling sessions at a nearby community centre. Our partner also supported him to take a vocational course in tailoring.
“After using the medicine and receiving counselling services for two years, today he feels better, and the symptoms of his mental problems have dwindled. His hope has become firm and unconquerable,” our partner shared.
“The community volunteer was a humble person; he listened to me carefully and respected me a lot,” said Ahmad. “After I finished the tailoring course, I received some relevant tools. After my health recovery, this was the greatest help for me to start my own business.”
Ahmad is one of countless people who have been supported and encouraged by Tearfund’s partners in one of the hardest places in the world.
The people of Afghanistan have endured decades of hardship, from the Soviet invasion in the late 1970s and subsequent civil war, to the US invasion of 2001. The withdrawal of US (and Australian) troops in 2021 precipitated a sudden and dramatic change of government. This political upheaval, coupled with international sanctions on the current government, contributed to a massive economic downturn in 2021.
Adding to the serious challenges, the neighbouring countries of Pakistan and Iran announced mass deportations of Afghans back to Afghanistan in late 2023. In Pakistan alone, there are approximately 1.7 million Afghans at risk of deportation and an estimated 740,000 have already been forced to return.
The humanitarian crisis has been exacerbated by several years of drought, major earthquakes in 2023 and flooding in May 2024. It’s estimated that 58 per cent (23.7 million people) of the national population require humanitarian assistance in 2024.1
“It’s hard to even say how much hardship the country has seen over the years,” said James Montgomery. “The people of Afghanistan have just had blow after blow, both politically and in terms of environmental catastrophes.”
Like so many hard places, Afghanistan tends to appear on our television screens and news feeds when a particular crisis erupts, and then fade from view. But Tearfund’s partners have remained steadfastly present there for decades, providing practical support and meeting specific needs as they arise. Tearfund has supported partners in Afghanistan since 1983, and one of those partners has had a presence there since the mid-1960s.
“I’ve been so impressed by the perseverance of our partners amidst so much upheaval in recent years,” said James. “Despite the hardship that they themselves and their families have gone through, it’s really clear they have a heart for the communities where they’re working, and for vulnerable families in Afghanistan.”
For many of the staff of our partner organisations, there is a significant cost to that commitment: particularly for those with daughters, the future looks very different since the change in government in Afghanistan in August 2021.
“The current situation for women and girls in Afghanistan is extremely restrictive,” said James. “Girls are not allowed to attend school after primary school. Women are excluded from the workforce apart from in healthcare. I know many of the staff have concerns about their own futures, and particularly the future for their daughters, but they remain steadfast in their commitment to support vulnerable families in their communities despite this.”
While the upheaval of 2021 has severely limited what women and girls can do, James says that the development work of Tearfund’s partners in the years prior to that has left a lasting legacy.
“A project that we supported prior to the change in government was about establishing women’s Self-Help Groups,” he said. “This project grew to become more like a movement. Women who joined were so happy with the benefits of membership that they started to support other neighbouring women to start their own groups. Before the change in government there were more than 1,000 groups that were on the official project record, but more groups were being started each year. It would not be possible to run this project under the current government.
“I had the privilege of visiting one of these groups back in 2019. The thing that struck me most about the meeting was that the main benefit of the group that women talked about was the relationships they had formed. Before, they had no reason to justify leaving their homes – culturally speaking, a woman’s place was in her home – and so they did not know their neighbours. But the group had helped to build a friendship network. The women then had the ability to call other women in their neighbourhood to share and support each other. While there is a sadness that we can’t support the official project, I am sure that these social connections will have lasted.”
Today, too, the work of Tearfund’s partners is supporting women to have a role and a voice that they may not otherwise have. The government allows women to work in the field of health (including mental health work), although it also mandates that they must have a male relative accompanying them if they are travelling more than 45 miles to do this work, or in some parts of the country, for any travel out of the home.
“We support the work of our partners in health, so this is giving women opportunities to continue in the workforce,” said James. “Our partner staff, particularly the women, talk about how much they value the support they’ve had to continue this work. And it’s also just that they have a role in the workplace – they feel heard, they have decision-making ability.”
The work of Tearfund’s four partners in Afghanistan includes access to clean water and toilets, food security, children’s nutrition, infant and maternal health, income generation, support for livelihoods, and mental health. James says this mental health work is much needed in a place like Afghanistan.
“Following years of conflict, and then all the environmental disasters that have happened, there is a lot of anxiety and depression and other mental health conditions in the country,” he said. “Our partners have done great work in helping to support people to access mental health services, promoting mental wellbeing, and facilitating support groups for people.”
For people like Ahmad, getting the right support has not only relieved suffering and hardship, but brought hope.
“Now I have a job and I run a shop with two employees,” he said. “I am happy and I don’t have time to think about disappointing things. I have made new friends, and I am so happy with my life.”
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* names changed
