Ex-TV anchor forced to sell food on street in Taliban's Afghanistan

A former television anchor in Afghanistan has been forced to sell food on the side of a street to earn a living after losing his job following Taliban’s takeover of Kabul.

Kabir Haqmal, who once worked with the former president Hamid Karzai government, tweeted out pictures of a street food vendor, who he identified as a former news anchor, reporter Musa Mohammadi, according to a report in WION News.

He said that after the Taliban's rise to power, Musa has been forced into poverty. "Journalists life in #Afghanistan under the #Taliban. Musa Mohammadi worked for years as an anchor & reporter in different TV channels, and now has no income to feed his family. & sells street food to earn some money. #Afghans suffer unprecedented poverty after the fall of the republic," Haqmal wrote.

Read more: Self-exiled Afghan journalists left in lurch in Pakistan

Haqmal's tweet went viral over the social media platform, attracting hundreds of likes and retweets. It even reached Ahmadullah Wasiq, the Director-General of National Radio and Television and the acting director for intelligence and deputy head of the cultural commission of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

Wasiq responded by tweeting in Pashto that Musa will be given employment "within the framework of National Radio and Television".

Since the Taliban took over Afghanistan, the country has been experiencing a humanitarian and economic crisis. They have also cracked down on media outlets, with several journalists, especially women losing their jobs in the last few months.

Also read: Taliban 'making women invisible' in Afghanistan: UN expert

According to Reuters, the World Bank recently said that the outlook for Afghanistan's economy is dire with per capita income having fallen by over a third in the last four months of 2021.

"One of the poorest countries in the world has become much poorer," said Tobias Haque, World Bank Senior Country Economist for Afghanistan.

(With input from Reuters)