From teacher to shoe shiner: Afghan economic crisis spares few

Hadia Ahmadi, 43, was a teacher in various schools under the previous Afghan government, but she lost her job due to education restrictions for children and job restrictions for women, now she waxes shoes for people along the street in Kabul, Afghanistan November 22, 2021. Picture taken November 22, 2021. REUTERS/Ali Khara

KABUL (Reuters) - In the biting cold of a Kabul autumn, Hadia Ahmadi, a 43-year-old teacher who lost her job after the Taliban seized the Afghan capital in August, sits by the roadside trying to earn the equivalent of a few cents polishing shoes.

The abrupt withdrawal of foreign aid following the Taliban victory has sent Afghanistan's fragile economy into freefall, leaving millions facing hunger and making once well-off middle class families destitute.