RASC News Agency: Kabul’s street vendors, already struggling under the weight of economic hardship and widespread unemployment, now face relentless extortion by the Taliban. Field reports reveal a deeply entrenched system in which Taliban operatives systematically demand daily or weekly payments from vendors in exchange for permission to operate. Those who refuse to comply or newcomers attempting to set up shop without Taliban authorization are met with brutal crackdowns, their goods confiscated, and in many cases, physical violence inflicted upon them. A vendor in the Pul-e-Mahmood Khan area, speaking on condition of anonymity, described the dire situation: “Every day, Taliban members arrive on motorcycles, collecting money from every vendor with a stall. If we refuse to pay, they either beat us or seize everything we own.”
He recounted a particularly harrowing incident in which a fellow vendor was ruthlessly assaulted: “A man who had just set up his stall refused to hand over money. The Taliban descended upon him, beat him unconscious, and loaded all his goods into their vehicle. No one dared to intervene.” Similar accounts have emerged from other vendors across the city. A tea seller in the Dehmazang area lamented: “We barely earn enough to survive, yet they treat us as their personal revenue stream. They claim control over these areas and demand a share from anyone working here. If an outsider tries to set up shop without their approval, not only do they confiscate his belongings, but they beat him so severely that no one else dares to do the same.”
In some areas, the Taliban have institutionalized this extortion, imposing fixed rates on vendors. A tissue seller in Sarai-e-Shamali explained: “We are forced to pay 500 kabuli rupees per week just to be allowed to stay here. Those who earn more sometimes have to pay 1,000 or even 1,500 kabuli rupees weekly. If we refuse, they either drive us out or seize our merchandise.” The victims of this extortion are primarily members of Kabul’s most impoverished communities individuals already struggling to afford rent and provide for their families. A man selling second-hand clothes near Pamir Cinema expressed his despair: “If we miss even a single day of work, our children go hungry. Yet they are taking even this last morsel from us.”
Concerned citizens in Kabul view these coercive tactics as emblematic of the broader collapse of social order and escalating injustices under Taliban rule. A bystander who witnessed the Taliban’s treatment of street vendors remarked: “They call themselves rulers, but there is no law only brute force. They treat people like slaves and act with impunity.” Amid Afghanistan’s deepening economic crisis, where unemployment and poverty have reached unprecedented levels, the Taliban’s systematic extortion of the most vulnerable has only exacerbated the suffering of ordinary citizens. With each passing day, the outlook for Kabul’s street vendors many of whom are the sole providers for their families grows increasingly grim, as they find themselves trapped between economic despair and an unrelenting cycle of exploitation.
