It happened again during Friday prayers. This time, a blast in a mosque in Kandahar killed dozens.

A similar attack targeted prayers in Kuduz one week ago. The violence underscores the challenges facing the new Afghan government.

Even before the U.S. withdrawal the country was beset with problems. It’s facing a drought, ongoing challenges from the pandemic, and high civilian casualties from decades of war. Economic calamity looms as well, in a country heavily dependent on international donations.

According to the World Bank, more than forty percent of Afghanistan’s GDP comes from foreign aid. That money dried up when the Taliban took over. So now almost half of the population is in need of humanitarian help.

A panel will talk about the economic situation in Afghanistan, but first let’s hear from the Pakistani Ambassador to the UN.

I spoke with Ambassador Munir Akram about its neighbor to the north, and I began by asking him how Pakistan views the increasingly dire conditions in Afghanistan.

To discuss:

• Torek Farhadi was an advisor to former Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
• Gul Sabit is a former Afghan Deputy Minister of Finance.
• Ahmad Shah Mohibi is founder and President of the counter-terrorism non-profit, Rise to Peace.

For more:

Foreign aid previously funded much of Afghanistan’s public sector — including large portions of its healthcare system. Only 17% of the health facilities previously supported by the World Bank and others were fully functional as of Sept. 22, per @WHO. https://t.co/L5sTVajp2G

— FRONTLINE (@frontlinepbs) October 15, 2021

Afghanistan in midst of economic crisis as foreign aid dries up https://t.co/tRy0GcwvEY pic.twitter.com/mQW7Sxqf40

— CTV News (@CTVNews) October 11, 2021