Afghanistan: UNICEF to pay stipend to teachers as 'emergency support'

Along with a humanitarian crisis, Afghanistan also faces an economic one, as many have not been paid their monthly salaries following the West's military withdrawal and the Taliban's takeover. UNICEF has announced that it will be paying Afghan teachers for at least two months.

The UN agency announced in a statement Sunday that it was going to pay around 194,000 Afghan primary and secondary school teachers a monthly stipend for at least two months. The stipends would be around $100 a month and would be paid in Afghanis and would come from the European Union.

"Following months of uncertainty and hardship for many teachers, we are pleased to extend emergency support to public school teachers in Afghanistan who have spared no effort to keep children learning," said UNICEF Afghanistan representative Mohamed Ayoya.

The Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan back in August 2021 led to an economic and humanitarian crisis for the country. The international community has also attempted to find ways to get the needed aid for Afghanistan without the money benefiting the Taliban, whose administration is not recognized by the international governments. Some Taliban officials are also being sanctioned.

One of the international community's key demands of the Taliban was to allow girls to receive education as schools have mostly been reopened for boys. The insurgent group assured that it is working on plans to allow girls to return to school and is opening universities this month that allows female students to return.

During the West's military withdrawal from Afghanistan, the country also saw its western-backed government collapse, with its president, Ashraf Ghani, having abruptly fled the country in the midst of the takeover. According to Ghani's brother Hashmat Ghani, the former Afghan president is ready to return to the country.

Ghani told DW that his brother is ready to return to Afghanistan and do his part in helping Afghans in need. However, despite the former Afghan president's willingness to return to the country, he is no longer interested in returning to politics.

"It is one thing to be willing to return, it is another to be able to do something. We are discussing what he can do with some people," said Ghani, who noted that he is leading most of the discussions.