- The Afghan Taliban has already started paying salaries to state employees.
- Since the Islamists seized power, these employees have not been paid.
- In the process of this power transfer, it experienced a major final crisis.
The Afghan Taliban authorities said on Saturday that since Islamists seized power and triggered a major financial crisis, they have begun to pay government employees.
Most government employees have not yet returned to work, and even before the Taliban seized power, many government employees had not received wages for several months, especially rural workers.
“We will pay wages from today. We will pay three months’ wages,” said Ahmed Wali Hakmar, a spokesman for the Ministry of Finance, at a press conference.
Hackmar said that wages will be paid during the period beginning August 23, adding that some government employees will receive wages even one month before the Taliban takes power.
The money will be paid through the country’s banking system, which Hackmar said has not been “paralyzed” since the collapse of the previous government.
“It just takes time to run normally,” he said.
Government employees will still not be able to receive full wages.
Since August, the banking industry in Afghanistan has collapsed. As branches have reduced withdrawals to between 200 and 400 US dollars per week, those who have deposits in the bank have difficulty accessing funds.
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After Washington froze about 10 billion U.S. dollars in assets in its Kabul reserves, the financial crisis intensified. After the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund stopped funding Afghanistan, the financial crisis worsened.
During the first 20 years of government in Afghanistan backed by Washington, foreign donors led by the United States provided more than 75% of public expenditures.
As the local currency plummeted and prices soared, the rapidly deteriorating situation forced Afghans to sell their household items to raise funds for food and other necessities.
Meraj Mohammad Meraj, a spokesman for the government revenue department, said that the authorities are able to pay wages after they have earned approximately US$277 million in revenue in the past two and a half months.
“Only 20% to 25% of the economy is operating…not all sectors are currently operating,” Meraj said at a press conference.
He added that the authorities will introduce a new Islamic tax to fund aid projects for the poor and orphans.
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