RASC News Agency: Following the cessation of U.S. financial aid to the Taliban, the group has been scrambling to secure alternative revenue streams, imposing an overwhelming financial burden on Afghanistan’s citizens, particularly those in Kabul. Drastic electricity tariff hikes, unauthorized taxation, and compulsory levies on essential services are among the predatory measures the Taliban have adopted to compensate for their declining financial resources. Now, the people of Kabul are being forced to pay the price for the Taliban’s loss of foreign aid, while the group continues to systematically drain the population through various exploitative tactics. In recent weeks, residents of Kabul have been hit with an unprecedented surge in electricity bills, in many cases tripling overnight, despite no increase in consumption. Many Kabul residents believe this is yet another calculated scheme by the Taliban to extract money from the public.
Abdul Ghafoor, a resident of Kabul’s 10th district, expressed his frustration to RASC News Agency:
“Last month, my electricity bill was 1,500 Kabuli rupees, but this month it has skyrocketed to 7,800. I have not used any more power than before, yet the Taliban have arbitrarily inflated the prices under false pretenses. This is no longer just a rate increase it is outright extortion.” Following their seizure of Kabul, the Taliban assumed complete control over Afghanistan’s national electricity company, Breshna, and have since imposed arbitrary tariffs without oversight. Despite failing to settle Afghanistan’s outstanding debts to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, the group has compensated for its financial shortfalls by extracting exorbitant sums from Kabul’s residents.
Abdul Rahman, another Kabul resident from the Khair Khana district, condemned the situation in an interview with RASC News Agency:
“Every day, the Taliban devise a new way to extort money from the people. Even the electricity they import from neighboring countries now they are charging us three times its actual cost. This is no longer taxation it is state-sanctioned theft!” A source within Breshna confirmed to RASC News Agency:
“The Taliban have deliberately inflated electricity prices because foreign aid has ceased. Now, they are squeezing the people of Kabul to sustain their rule. It is a deliberate policy of economic suffocation.”
Beyond unprecedented electricity rate hikes, the Taliban have implemented additional financial extortion mechanisms, including arbitrary taxation, fabricated fines, and direct financial coercion targeting shopkeepers and business owners. Reports indicate that Taliban operatives have been conducting door-to-door extortion, demanding exorbitant sums from citizens without any legal justification. Nematullah, a shopkeeper in Kabul’s Macrorayan district, shared his ordeal:
“A group of armed men came to my shop and accused me of ‘selling electricity’ demanding that I pay a tax. I told them I run a grocery store, not an energy company, but they threatened to shut my business down unless I handed over 20,000 kabuli rupees. They do not care where the money comes from they are only interested in taking it.”
With U.S. aid severed, the Taliban now find themselves in an escalating financial crisis. Yet, rather than seeking sustainable economic solutions, they have opted to offload the burden onto ordinary Afghanistani citizens, exacerbating economic hardship, business closures, and widespread despair. Experts warn that if this trend persists, Kabul will witness an alarming surge in poverty, business bankruptcies, and mass migration. For now, however, the Taliban show no indication of reversing their exploitative policies, continuing their ruthless extraction of wealth from the Afghanistani people, leaving citizens with little hope for economic relief.
