Gul Roia, 29, sells second-hand clothes on a sidewalk in the shadow of the Rauza, a famous shrine in the center of Mazar-e-Sharif. It is the only means she has to make money for her family.

“I have been selling things in the city for nine years,” she said, anger and fatigue showing on her face. “My husband lost his legs during the civil war, and I have to work hard to feed my children. I have no happiness at all in my life and I am worried about my children’s future.”

Unemployment rates in Afghanistan top 30 percent and women are particularly vulnerable, given their generally lower level of education and training. There are thousands of women like Gul Roia trying to provide for their families on whatever meager earnings they can scrape together.

Gul Roia blames the government for failing to take any action to better the lives of the poor, and says that there are simply no jobs in the city.

“My children count the hours until I come home just so they can have a piece of bread,” she said. “I have heard about relief organizations that help the poor in Afghanistan, but no one is doing anything for us.”

One of her biggest problems, said Gul Roia, are the police, who harass her constantly and ask for bribes.

“If I do not pay them they will not let me stay here,” she complained.

Abdul Rauf Taj, police chief for Balkh province, rejected Gul Roia’s allegations.

“According to government instructions, the police have to evict all the vendors from the sidewalk around Rauza and take them to a location specified by the municipality,” he said. “These vendors create traffic problems by displaying their goods along the main streets.

He denied that his men were soliciting bribes.

“The police have an obligation to implement the instruction issued by the government,” he insisted. “And anyone who takes a bribe will be punished.”

The police department has formed a special unit to deal with such cases, he added.

Mir Abdul Majeed, the administrative officer in charge of the Rauza, also complains about the vendors around the area.
 
“Unemployment and poverty have forced many people, women, men, children, to come to the city to try and sell things,” he said. “They particularly choose the area around the Rauza. But in addition to selling their wares, they commit other illegal acts, such as theft and adultery.”

Karima is another women caught in this trap. “I have to feed my family,” she cried. “I live in a rented house and there is no one to help me. I sell eggs on the sidewalk to make some money but the police do not let me stay here. Every day we are chased from one place to another by the police.”

Karima also looks to the government for help.

“Government and aid agencies must solve our problems,” she insisted.
Fawzia Hamidi, the head of the Department of Labor and Social Affairs, said that her department was trying to help.

“We have trained 2,650 unemployed women in various vocational fields so far,” she said. “We could not do more because we do not have a large enough budget. The government spends more on security than on social affairs.”

The head of Mazar-e-Sharif ‘s Department of Human Rights, Qazi Sayeed Ahmad, is also worried about the situation.

“Based on our research, people’s living conditions are getting worse by the day. About 36 percent of the population lives on less than a dollar a day,” he said.  ”The level of debt in an average family has risen from 25,000 afghani (approximately $500) to 125,000 (approximately $2500. It is a catastrophe.”

Abdul Azem Azemi, a political analyst and a member of Mazar-e-Sharif’s Civil Society Forum, calls upon the government to act.

“It is up to the government to eradicate this phenomenon,” he said. “The privatization of the economic system has negatively affected people’s living conditions. The majority of Afghans are not able to provide for even their basic needs.”

But he did not expect much from the government.

“It is difficult to tackle unemployment when the government itself is so corrupt,” he said. “They talk about the rights of children, the rights of people, and they have hundreds of domestic and international charity organizations here spending millions of dollars. But the problem still exists and is getting worse by the day.”