Billions of dollars from humanitarian aid, the Taliban’s tight currency controls, and rising trade with Asian neighbors pushed Afghanistan’s currency above the U.S. dollar. Yet poverty holds the Afghan people tightly in its grip.

Unemployment is rampant. Two-thirds of Afghan households struggle to afford essential items. The United Nations says another decrease in foreign aid could lower per capita income to $306, a 40 percent drop from 2020.

The Taliban tyranny feels familiar. “People on the ground [say], ‘Yeah, it’s like it was before; in some ways, it’s even worse,’” John Weaver, author of Inside Afghanistan, says.

“My hunch is it will continue to get worse as things go forward because that’s just how they (the Taliban) view life and society.”

Despite these difficulties, “secret Christians” continue to meet. “In the midst of being like sheep among wolves, they’ll still gather to encourage and pray for one another,” Weaver says.

“People are terrified, everyone is afraid. I am only 16 years old and cannot take what is happening around me. I’m crying out to God right now.” – A Christian girl in Afghanistan
(Photo, caption courtesy of SAT-7)

Plus, the Body of Christ is growing as Afghans encounter the Gospel. “All we can say is praise God for social media, praise God for the internet; praise God for His word that’s available in many different ways,” Weaver says.

“Thankfully, God is always working even in this oppressive context.”

Pray for understanding as new believers learn how to follow and serve Jesus.

“The discipleship process does happen; it just doesn’t look like what we’re used to [in the West],” Weaver says.

“It’s low-key, it’s one-on-one. Some of these believers know other believers and are aware of resources they can access.”

Header image depicts Afghan currency. (Wikimedia Commons)

John Weaver, author of Inside Afghanistan, says, “This is revealing what we already knew about the Taliban. They think it’s best for their country to have these rules where girls can’t go to school beyond sixth grade, and women can’t work in certain jobs. They have not changed, and it doesn’t look like they are going to change.”

(Photo courtesy of Wanman Uthmaniyyah via Unsplash)

Afghanistan is the only country in the world that denies women access to secondary and higher education.

“What could be worse is no school at all,” says Weaver. “At least in some places, they are going up to the sixth grade. It’s possible, in some villages, they’re going beyond that.

“Afghanistan is a huge tribal society. The Taliban are primarily Pashtuns, but the Pashtuns don’t live everywhere, so there’s not the oppressive Islamic view [held by] the Taliban everywhere.”

Pray Afghan women will regain their lost freedoms, and ask the Lord to protect His followers.

The Taliban says Christianity has no presence in Afghanistan, yet secret believers remain.

Weaver says, “God’s never left Himself without a witness. He’s at work in the country. But for Afghan believers, it is an oppressive context. There are like sheep among wolves, and they need our prayers and support and advocacy now more than ever.”

Header photo courtesy of Farid Ershad via Unsplash.

But this attitude may end up turning the general population away from Islam. John Weaver performed humanitarian aid work in Afghanistan in the late 1990s. He spoke to The Voice of the Martyrs Canada on the topic. “If I’m a follower of Islam, and I see all the fighting and all the oppressiveness, it actually can turn me away from my own worldview. I become discontent or dissatisfied with my own worldview, and therefore I’m open to something else.”

Weaver says the Taliban and their supporters want to see their country flourish. They genuinely believe strict Islamic law will make that happen. Ask the Holy Spirit to change many hearts in Afghanistan.

Mary’s story

Weaver tells the story of one Afghan woman. “Mary, like many Afghans became discontent with her own worldview. She became open to asking questions and discovering spiritual truth. Long story short, God spoke to her in a dream, and she became a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. And now she wants to share the story of God with others.”

Mary travels to the homes of other women to share about Jesus. On the way, she wears her full burqa. But when she arrives, Weaver says, “she’s greeted by some women who are expecting her. They go into the room and take that thing off. And now they’re not hidden. [They celebrate that] God sees them. God loves them. God is with them.”

Mary starts at the Creation story, sharing the truth these women have heard before. She then tells them about the full and final revelation of God in Jesus Christ.

Photo courtesy of Amber Clay from Pixabay.

Ahmad Massoud, son of the former Northern Alliance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud, has reportedly fled to Tajikistan. Afghanistan’s former vice president Amrullah Selah left the country by helicopter a few days later. These leaders asked for Western support, but the U.S. declined to provide weapons or supplies.

John Weaver, a former humanitarian worker in Afghanistan, spoke to The Voice of the Martyrs Canada. He served in the country during the Taliban’s first occupation, which lasted from 1996 to 2001.

He says the Taliban faced more resistance in those days than it does now. “It was the Northern Alliance forces that helped NATO, the Americans, Canadians, and the different international community forces that came in. It was the Northern Alliance that helped them. And a lot of them were from the Panjshir Valley. And now, look on the news. There’s only one spot left in the whole country that’s not controlled by the Taliban. And it’s one little spot in the Panjshir.”

Now, the Taliban has even claimed victory in the Panjshir Valley, though this has not been verified. According to a New York Times report, Afghan civilians report little sign of resistance in the valley.

How to pray

Weaver says he gets calls every day from people in Afghanistan, begging for help as they endure the nightmare of life under Taliban rule.

He prays that the Gospel would free the Afghan people, including Taliban fighters, from violence and fear. “The Pashtun people, which make up most of the Taliban, they’re lovely people. God made them in His image. They’re just waiting to come into a real encounter with the one true God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

He says desperation often makes people look to extremist ideologies. “In Afghanistan, it’s a survival society. And so here comes the Taliban making some promises, and you join them.”

The header photo shows old Soviet military equipment abandoned after a failed invasion of the Panjshir Valley. (Photo courtesy of Peretz Partensky from San Francisco, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)