CNN's Clarissa Ward on Afghanistan's looming economic recession: 'We're talking about starvation and hunger'

A "massive and severe economic recession" is looming for Afghanistan in the wake of the United States' withdrawal and the Taliban takeover, CNN's Clarissa Ward reported from Kabul on Wednesday. "We're not just talking about purse strings being tight," Ward said. "We're talking about starvation and hunger, potentially."

The reason is that "there is no cash coming into" the country and the Afghan central bank has effectively been frozen, Ward explained. Afghans can only take out about $200 per week, prices for basic goods are skyrocketing, and people are not getting paid.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.