'I'm afraid'

What U.S. aid cuts mean for the women of Afghanistan

- by ELISE BLANCHARD

OVER THE PAST 12 YEARS, the small family-health clinic in Melmastok, a remote mountainous community in Afghanistan's central Daikundi province, has withstood multiple upheavals-from a Taliban insurgency to the withdrawal of international troops and the collapse of the U.S.-backed government in Kabul in 2021. Ever since, as the Taliban returned to power, once again issuing edicts to suppress women and girls, the clinic and its 34-year-old midwife Atifa have continued to provide a lifeline for mothers and young children.

Until this summer, that is. Come July, the clinic finally closed its doors. For Atifa, who identifies herself like many local women with only her first name, that means one thing: "Mothers and children will die." The reason? The wholesale slashing by Washington of U.S. humanitarian aid, until recently the single biggest source of development support for ordinary Afghans. That support had been critical for the survival of health and other development projects in the country, flowing in via the U.N. and its partners. But, as of August this year, funding cuts have led to the suspension or closure of 422 health facilities in the country.

In July, mothers wait to see a midwife at a clinic in Daikundi's Waras Valley that lost its funding earlier this year. Ahead of its possible closure, Nassiba, pictured here in the purple headscarf with her 1-year-old child, said mothers like her would struggle to find care without the facility. "We are poor. It would be terrible."