With no electricity, people use snow to keep food fresh in Afghanistan

KHOST, AFGHANISTAN: In Khost province of Afghanistan, people have to use snow in summer to keep food fresh as there is no electricity.

When it snows in the winter season, the local people in the mountainous areas of the city store the snow in special warehouses and then bring it by trucks to city during Ramadan to sell it.

However, snow sellers are complaining about decline in their business as customers lost interest in buying snow due to the economic problems the country has been facing since the Taliban has come to power.

“I am a seller of collected snow in the city. This year our business has gone bad. People are facing economic problems. We sell snow at low prices because most people are not able to afford snow,” said Abdullah, one of the snow sellers in the city.”

The Taliban regained power in August 2021 amid the withdrawal of foreign forces and collapse of the US-backed government. The interim administration, however, has yet to gain international recognition.

While international funding remains largely suspended, billions of dollars of the country’s assets abroad, mostly in the US, are also frozen.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), half the population now faces acute hunger, over 9 million people have been displaced, and millions of children are out of school.