Business
Taliban collecting 200 million AFN daily from captured border posts
Some members of Afghanistan’s Wolesi Jirga (Lower House of Parliament) said on Sunday that more than 60% of customs revenue is now being collected by the Taliban after they captured border crossings.
MP’s said this amounts to about 200 million AFN a day.
The financial and budget commission of the Wolesi Jirga said that government should take serious measures to recapture the border crossings, otherwise government will lose more revenue.
“Taliban captured about 65 percent of customs and they earn up to 200 million AFN from the customs… Government should take practical action,” said Mir Afghan Safi, head of the financial and budget commission of the Wolesi Jirga.
MPs have urged government on numerous occasions to conduct operations to retake control of these border crossings, but government has not taken a any action so far, MPs said.
“Most of our ports including Pol-e- Abrashim, Sheikh Abu Nasr Farahi, Torghundi, and other ports in the north have been captured by Taliban recently. Unfortunately Taliban collects government income and is transferring it to Pakistan. The Afghan nation should be united and support security forces in order to change the situation,” said Abdul Satar Hussaini, an MP.
Meanwhile, Afghan Ministry of Finance (MoF) stated that seven border crossings have fallen to the Taliban and have had a negative impact on government revenue collection.
“Unfortunately the MoF is not active in Islam Qala, Torghundi, Abu Nasr Farahi, Spin Boldak, Ay-Khanum, Dand-e-Patan, and Sher Khan Port, and without any doubt, direct trade has impacted on income. The current problems have a negative impact on income,” said Mohammad Rafi Tabi, a spokesman for the MoF.
The MoF added that national revenue generation has dropped in the past two months.
The MP said that running customs by Taliban is not acceptable and will have a negative impact on the country’s national revenue income.
The Ministry of Commerce and Industry said Thursday it has signed cooperation agreements with ten institutions to support the development of small and medium-sized enterprises.
Nooruddin Azizi, Acting Minister of Commerce and Industry, said: “In the implementation of projects, we must pay special attention to our activities and actions and try to make useful use of the projects according to the requirements and benefit the beneficiaries.”
These ten institutions are to present their projects, the total value of which is around over $1.1 million. The projects will be carried out in Kabul, Baghlan, Ghor, Herat, Logar, Nangarhar, Balkh, Badakhshan and Jawzjan provinces and provide direct jobs for about 1,000.
To date, the ministry has signed MoUs for 72 projects in total, collectively valued at about $53.6 million.
These agreements have been signed with domestic and foreign companies for the establishment of small and medium-sized businesses.
In accordance with the principles and laws of the Islamic Emirate and prioritizing the implementation of projects for immigrants and returnees and internally displaced people, the ministry said 635,865 people will benefit through jobs directly and over 4.3 million will benefit indirectly in 25 provinces once these projects are implemented.
The National Statistics and Information Authority (NSIA) confirmed Tuesday that in the last month of solar year 1402, (March 2024) Afghanistan’s exports totaled $141.1 million and imports totaled $789.6 million.
This was down from $174 million for exports in the same period in 1401. However, imports increased by $99.2 million in 1402, up from $690.4 million.
Most exports in the last month of 1402 went to Pakistan, India and the United Arab Emirates, while in the last month of 1401 exports went to Pakistan, India and China.
The Ministry of Interior said the governor of Herat province Islam Jar met with Alim Khan Yasin Gildaye, Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Afghanistan, to discuss various issues around trade.
According to the ministry, the two sides discussed the expansion of trade facilities, increasing the volume of trade exchanges between traders of the two countries, reducing customs tariffs, solving the challenges of traders and issuing visas to them.
The Afghanistan-Kazakhstan Chamber of Commerce has been opened in Herat in order to facilitate and increase trade between the two countries.
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