Published TUESDAY March 24, 2026: 'Afghanistan: Cycle of Collapse' by ZUMA Press represented Xinhua photo-journalist Saifurahman Safi: Afghanistan's cycle of collapse is a four-decade pattern of failed regimes, foreign intervention, and rapid state breakdown. Since the U.S. withdrawal in August 2021, the central Asian country now titled 'Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan' has faced a fallen economy, a humanitarian crisis with over 23 million people needing aid, and a strict, authoritarian Taliban regime. Women's rights have been severely restricted, with girls banned from education beyond sixth grade and most female employment prohibited. While basic commerce continues in local bazaars, the economy is supported by international humanitarian aid and increasingly, economic engagement from China, while Western countries largely maintain sanctions. Now tensions between nuclear-armed Pakistan and Afghanistan's Taliban regime have sharply escalated since late February after Pakistan declared 'Open War' with Afghanistan heightening regional instability and raising concerns about the risk of yet another prolonged conflict. Welcome to 'Afghanistan: Cycle of Collapse'
© zReportage.com Issue #1033 Story of the Week: Published TUESDAY March 24, 2026: 'Afghanistan: Cycle of Collapse' by ZUMA Press represented Xinhua photo-journalist Saifurahman Safi: Afghanistan's cycle of collapse is a four-decade pattern of failed regimes, foreign intervention, and rapid state breakdown. Since the U.S. withdrawal in August 2021, the central Asian country now titled 'Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan' has faced a fallen economy, a humanitarian crisis with over 23 million people needing aid, and a strict, authoritarian Taliban regime. Women's rights have been severely restricted, with girls banned from education beyond sixth grade and most female employment prohibited. While basic commerce continues in local bazaars, the economy is supported by international humanitarian aid and increasingly, economic engagement from China, while Western countries largely maintain sanctions. Now tensions between nuclear-armed Pakistan and Afghanistan's Taliban regime have sharply escalated since late February after Pakistan declared 'Open War' with Afghanistan heightening regional instability and raising concerns about the risk of yet another prolonged conflict. Welcome to 'Afghanistan: Cycle of Collapse'
A man rides a white horse near a snow-covered lakeside in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan. Horses have been central to Afghan warfare and culture for centuries.
© Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua via ZUMA Press
An Afghan security force member makes a body search at a checkpoint in Kabul. The Afghan police have arrested 12,540 criminal suspects over the past six months across the country, the Ministry of Interior Affairs said.
© Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua via ZUMA Press
A horse and its keeper at a ranch in Mazar-i-Sharif, the capital of Balkh province in north Afghanistan. Buzkashi is Afghanistan's traditional, high-stakes national sport where skilled horsemen (chapandaz) compete to grab a goat or calf carcass from the ground and drop it into a scoring circle.
© Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua via ZUMA Press
Riders participate in Afghanistan's traditional sport Buzkashi (goat grabbing) in Kabul. In the game, which can last for 10 days, the horse riders do their best to grab the carcass of a calf and put it in the circle specified on the game ground.
© Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua via ZUMA Press
Children work in a brick factory in Kabul. Nineteen percent of Afghani children are engaged in child labor, the Afghanistan office of the United Nations (OCHA) said.
© Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua via ZUMA Press
Two young girls work at a brick kiln on the outskirts of Deh Sabz district, Kabul. Extreme poverty and economic collapse in Afghanistan have forced millions of children into hazardous labor, with many working in brick kilns to help their families survive.
© Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua via ZUMA Press
Emeralds on display during a trade fair in Afghanistan's Panjshir province. The fair hopes to bring investment in the mining sector. The Taliban controls and taxes Afghanistan's emerald exports, holding weekly auctions for stones.
© Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua via ZUMA Press
An Afghan child laborer stands in the street in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. Child labor has increased significantly since the 2021 economic collapse, with children working in hazardous conditions.
© Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua via ZUMA Press
The worn shoes of a laborer at a brick kiln works in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. According to the IRC nearly 70% of the population is either unemployed or lacks sufficient income, and about 15 million people are food insecure.
© Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua via ZUMA Press
A worker presents pine nuts at a processing factory in Paktia province, east Afghanistan. Once primarily used as a home-heating fuel, pine trees have become a cash cow for local villagers, with an average annual export of 5,000 tonnes of pine nuts, mostly destined for neighboring China.
© Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua via ZUMA Press
A seller holds Afghani banknotes at a currency exchange market in Kabul. Afghanistan's central bank announced that it will inject 25 million U.S. dollars in a bid to maintain the stability of the national currency, the afghani.
© Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua via ZUMA Press
A businessman weighs saffron threads at a shop in Kabul. Afghanistan exported 38 tons of saffron in 2025, generating more than 67.5 million U.S. dollars in revenue, with 95 percent of the premium spice produced in western Herat province, the country's saffron growers union announced.
© Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua via ZUMA Press
Construction workers on a residential building complex funded by a Chinese Corporation in Kabul. Despite its non-recognition of the Taliban government, China negotiates with the Taliban on issues of trade, investment, and aid.
© Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua via ZUMA Press
A worker transfers a glowing steel rod at a iron-smelting plant in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. The plant which recently opened as part of efforts to get the war-torn country towards achieving self-sufficiency.
© Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua via ZUMA Press
An Afghan farmer harvests Armenian cucumbers in a field outside the capital Kabul. The UN states that farming in Afghanistan faces a severe crisis due to a 25-year low in snowfall, causing widespread drought.
© Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua via ZUMA Press
Players attend a wheelchair basketball training session in Kabul, for disabled Afghans. With one of the world's highest per capita disability rates, disabled Afghans face extreme challenges, including social stigma, limited access to care, resulting from over four decades of conflict.
© Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua via ZUMA Press
A man reads at a bookstore in Kabul on world book day. Bookstores in Kabul were grappling with an unprecedented downturn in business, driven by a noticeable decline in reading enthusiasts. The reading culture in Afghanistan is rapidly declining, driven by severe Taliban restrictions on education and widespread poverty. A recent UNESCO report warned of a worsening education crisis, with over 90% of 10-year-olds unable to read simple text.
© Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua via ZUMA Press
Combatants (judoka) practice judo at a club in Kabul. Judo in Afghanistan originated in the late 1980's via German instructors training the Afghan police. Afghan women’s judo persists primarily through international training as Taliban restrictions prevent in-country competition.
© Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua via ZUMA Press
Young men cool off at a pool amid heatwave in Paghman district, Kabul. The Taliban officially banned women from using gyms, public baths, and swimming pools in November 2022.
© Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua via ZUMA Press
Afghan girls attend a class at a private school in Kabul. Since the Taliban takeover in August 2021, the education system for girls in Afghanistan has been severely restricted, making it the only country in the world to forbid girls from attending secondary and higher education.
© Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua via ZUMA Press
A health worker gives a dose of polio vaccine to a child during a polio vaccination campaign in Kabul. Afghanistan launched its first polio vaccination campaign, aiming to protect over 7.3 million children under 5 years old against poliovirus, yet remains one of only two countries globally where wild poliovirus (WPV1) is endemic.
© Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua via ZUMA Press
A doctor checks on a malnourished child at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health in Kabul. According to UNICEF over 3.7 million children in Afghanistan face acute malnutrition, with conditions in Kabul worsening due to extreme poverty, aid cuts, and drought.
© Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua via ZUMA Press
Afghan returnees receive food at a temporary camp at the Torkham border crossing, as the world marks international migrants day. The forced return of thousands of Afghans from neighboring countries is reshaping lives and many families are coming back to a homeland they barely know, striving to rebuild amid fragile security and limited support.
© Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua via ZUMA Press
Aiming an American-made M4 carbine assault rifle an Afghan security force member takes part in a military operation against Pakistan in Khost province, After the withdrawal of the US from Afghanistan, they left a huge stockpile of arms and ammunition.
© Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua via ZUMA Press
Afghan air defense forces firing in response to Pakistani airstrikes over Kabul in the early morning before sunrise. Afghanistan's capital was attacked by Pakistani air power at around 5:40 a.m. local time triggering a series of explosions and the air defense forces' fire response.
© Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua via ZUMA Press
Armed security personnel stand guard at a road junction following airstrikes in Kabul. At least 19 people were killed and 26 others injured in the eastern provinces of Khost and Paktika following Afghanistan-Pakistan border clashes.
© Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua via ZUMA Press
A member of the Afghan security force stands guard in Nangarhar province,. Following the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban seized a massive cache of American-supplied military equipment, including thousands of Humvee's.
© Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua via ZUMA Press
Debris is seen around destroyed buildings after an airstrike launched on the Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital in Kabul. Pakistan's air force carried out an airstrike targeting the hospital killing at least 400 people and injuring around 250 others, meanwhile, Pakistan refuted the Afghan government's claim, saying the country targeted military installations and terrorist support infrastructure.
© Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua via ZUMA Press
Two young Afghans looking across the city of Kabul. Over 4 years since the U.S. led troops withdrew from Afghanistan, the country remains deeply scarred by 20 years of war and struggles to rebuild amid an economic collapse exacerbated by international sanctions.
© Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua via ZUMA Press
