TALIBAN BEGIN PAYING SALARIES AFTER COLLECTING $270 MILLION IN REVENUE

Sat 20 November 2021:

Since gaining control in August, the Taliban’s provisional administration in Afghanistan has collected more than $270 million in revenue.

The Finance Ministry’s spokesman, Ahmad Wali Haqmal, told a news conference in Kabul that income collection is gathering up steam with each passing day. He highlighted customs and other taxes as the key sources of revenue without going into detail.

According to the local Hasht-e-Subh daily, the previous government was generating a lowest average of about 22 billion afghanis ($235 million) revenue a month even during the coronavirus pandemic when businesses were down.

The Taliban official added a regular mechanism would be put in place to pay all government civil servants the unpaid salary for the past three months in one go. He added that pending pensions would be paid to all retirees.

“The finance ministry says that, starting today, the past three months salaries of all government workers and staff will be paid totally,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Twitter.

The Taliban official accused the previous government of corruption, claiming that over 60,000 pensioners had not been paid their dues for over a year.

The cash-strapped country, battered by 20 years of conflict, is now in a disastrous economic crisis, with some individuals selling assets and begging for bread to survive.

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