When Shahnaz went into labour, her husband Abdul called a taxi to take them to the only medical facility accessible to them. She was in a lot of pain, he says. The clinic was in Shesh Pol village in Afghanistan's north-eastern Badakhshan province, where their two older children were born. After a tense drive, they arrived only to find the clinic closed, a shocking realization for Abdul. The closure was part of a wider trend, with over 400 facilities shuttering following drastic cuts in US aid under the Trump administration.

The Shesh Pol clinic, despite its humble structure, was critical in a region struggling with high maternal mortality rates. Without it, Abdul and Shahnaz faced insurmountable odds. As contractions intensified during their return home, Shahnaz delivered their baby girl in the car, but tragically, both mother and child died. Abdul lamented, I wept and screamed. My wife and child could've been saved if the clinic was open.

Abdul's story is one of many, highlighting the dire situations faced by families in Afghanistan, exacerbated by the Taliban's policies and inadequate healthcare infrastructure. The reality is stark—without access to medical services, countless lives hang in the balance as aid cuts lead to increasing maternal and neonatal deaths across the country.