KABUL: Pregnancy has become a matter of life and death for many Afghan mothers, with severe shortages in healthcare, restrictions on women’s movement and education, and a lack of female doctors and midwives placing mothers and newborns at growing risk.
In Afghanistan, women travel long distances to reach basic medical facilities, while some families are reluctant to allow women to be treated by male doctors.
Five years after the Taliban returned to power, restrictions on women are affecting not only their education and employment but also their ability to access essential healthcare.
The shortage of female medical professionals is becoming an increasingly serious concern as girls remain barred from education beyond the age of 12.
One Afghan mother told Sky News that ays she has lost five children during childbirth, highlighting the dangers facing women and newborns in a country where the healthcare system is under severe pressure.
Mothers Face Growing Risks
Dr Roshanak Wardak, who runs a clinic in Wardak province, warns that Afghanistan could face a worsening maternal and newborn health crisis.
“We will lose mothers and neonates,” she said.
Wardak also warns that the country is heading towards a time when there may be too few female doctors, nurses and midwives to provide care to Afghan women, reports Sky News.
“Soon there will be no female doctors in Afghanistan.”
“If there’s no doctor, no nurse, no midwife, who will help them? The men? Their families will not allow them to deliver their babies with a man doctor.”
The restrictions on girls’ education have therefore created consequences that extend far beyond classrooms, threatening the future supply of female healthcare workers.
For women in conservative communities, where treatment by male doctors may not be accepted, the shortage could make access to maternity care even more difficult.
Children Die In Hospitals
According to Sky News, the crisis is also visible in Afghanistan’s paediatric hospitals.
At the Indira Gandhi Children’s Hospital in Kabul, doctors describe wards under intense pressure, with some beds occupied by three babies. Medical staff say critically ill children are dying regularly.
One doctor says some severely ill babies may have only days to live, while another reports that doctors can see several babies die in a single day.
Among the children receiving treatment is Suleiman, only a few months old. He has already lost two older siblings and is now seriously ill himself.
The pressure on hospitals has been compounded by cuts in international aid, sanctions and the freezing of Afghan financial assets, leaving an already fragile healthcare system with fewer resources.
For poor families, the consequences can be devastating.
Taliban Rules Affect Women
The healthcare crisis cannot be separated from the wider restrictions imposed on Afghan women by the Taliban.
Women face restrictions on education, employment, movement, sport and participation in public life. Girls are prevented from continuing their education beyond the age of 12, while women face restrictions on leaving their homes and accessing medical care.
One woman describes the consequences of restrictions within her own household:
“If my husband says I can’t see a man doctor then I stay at home.”
The restrictions have also severely reduced opportunities for women to train as doctors, nurses and midwives, creating a problem that could become more serious with each passing year.
Women Struggle To Work
Despite the restrictions, thousands of Afghan women continue to find ways to earn an income.
The Taliban authorities point to around 10,000 female-owned or female-run businesses. Many women, however, work from their homes and largely away from public view.
One businesswoman is a former lawyer who can no longer practise law and has instead established a clothes-making business.
Tahmina says she considers herself fortunate because her husband supports her.
“I’m lucky.”
“My husband is a kind man and supports me.”
But women’s rights campaigner Mahbouba Seraj rejects the Taliban’s claim that its policies respect Afghan women.
“This is not respect. This is not Afghan culture.”
She argues that preventing girls from studying and women from working can have direct consequences for families who depend on women’s incomes.
Seraj, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, says she is leaving Afghanistan after years of campaigning for women’s rights.
“I’m crying every day,” she says, describing her anger and despair over Taliban policies and what she sees as insufficient international action.
Children Face A Lost Future
The restrictions are also shaping the future of Afghan children.
Eight-year-old Shamsul lost her father in recent floods in Nuristan. Her mother is pregnant with her eighth child and has lost the family’s main source of income.
The family is being supported by an elderly relative who is himself struggling to provide food.
Shamsul wants to become a doctor, but Taliban education restrictions mean she has only about two years of schooling left under the current rules.
She walks along difficult mountain paths to attend school.
An elderly man from Kabul, Baqi Salamdar, has helped pay for her education and provided school supplies.
“This is the future generation,” he says.
“Books? They are the door to the world.”
For children such as Shamsul, access to education is increasingly tied to whether they will have the opportunity to escape poverty and contribute to Afghanistan’s future.
Floods Deepen Crisis
Afghanistan’s humanitarian problems have been worsened by natural disasters.
Flooding in Nuristan and other parts of the country destroyed homes and possessions, leaving already vulnerable families without shelter or income.
In Parun, residents described floodwater sweeping through communities while outside assistance remained limited.
For families already struggling with poverty, the loss of a breadwinner can quickly turn a natural disaster into a long-term humanitarian crisis.
War’s Lasting Legacy
Afghanistan’s healthcare and humanitarian problems are also linked to the legacy of more than two decades of war.
In Sangin, Helmand province, families continue to remember relatives killed or injured during the fighting.
Bibi Aysha recalls the death of her 11-year-old daughter, who was shot while fleeing to safety.
“I wish I’d died instead,” she says. “She was just a child.”
Thousands of Afghans were left with permanent injuries during the conflict.
At an International Committee of the Red Cross rehabilitation clinic in Helmand, 10-year-old Abdul Rahman is receiving treatment after losing both legs to a mine when he was five.
He says he now feels “good” because he can play sports like other children, but will require replacement prostheses as he grows.
The clinic treats about 900 patients a week and serves several provinces, according to its manager, Ata Mohammad Quderi.
Women and girls are also among those living with life-changing injuries, although local restrictions prevent female survivors from being filmed.
Taliban Defend Their Record
While humanitarian organisations and rights advocates point to the deteriorating conditions facing women and children, Taliban officials present a different picture of Afghanistan.
The authorities emphasise the end of the country’s decades of war and improved security since the Taliban takeover in 2021.
The Taliban also point to Afghanistan’s mineral wealth and are seeking foreign investment in mining, agriculture and infrastructure.
The Taliban’s foreign minister has said the authorities would negotiate contracts with American companies if sanctions were lifted and Afghan assets unfrozen.
But there has been no corresponding indication of a major easing of restrictions on women’s education.
Afghanistan’s Unfinished Crisis
The end of large-scale fighting has not ended Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis.
For mothers, the dangers begin with access to healthcare and can extend to poverty, restrictions on movement and the absence of female medical professionals. For children, the crisis threatens not only their health but also their education and future prospects.
Afghanistan’s women and children are therefore carrying much of the burden of a country still emerging from war while living under a system that has sharply restricted women’s participation in society.
The country’s future may depend on its ability to rebuild its healthcare system and economy, but for Afghan mothers and children, the most urgent needs remain basic: safe childbirth, functioning hospitals, access to education and the ability to build a secure life.
