Ramin Behzad, the head of the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Afghanistan, said in an exclusive interview with TOLOnews that the current Afghan job market is facing numerous challenges.

Behzad added in this interview said that political changes, reduced investments, economic shrinkage, droughts, floods, and earthquakes have led to increased unemployment in Afghanistan.

He also mentioned that certain programs have been implemented to create job opportunities for Afghan citizens, especially women.

The head of the International Labour Organization said: "We had natural disasters, including floods and earthquakes in the west of the country last year, and based on our estimates, 22,000 to 23,000 jobs were lost in the west of the country."

Behzad added that a survey conducted by their organization in 2020 and published in 2021 showed that about 6 million people in Afghanistan had jobs, with around 1.1 million of them being women. 

According to Behzad, a survey conducted after the political changes of 2021 indicated that around 500,000 to 900,000 people in Afghanistan lost their jobs.

He added: "The labor force statistics are prepared according to international standards, and fortunately, it was so, and based on these statistics, the employed population in Afghanistan at that time was six million people."

In this interview, Ramin Behzad also stressed that the International Labour Organization has implemented some projects in Afghanistan to create job opportunities for the country's citizens.

He added: "We have a program in the northern part of the country to support small and medium enterprises over the past three years, which has created or improved over 13,000 jobs."

The International Labour Organization officially began its activities in Afghanistan in 2003.