Herat-Faryab Highway Drivers: Taliban Forcing 5,000 Kabuli Rupees from Each Vehicle

RASC News Agency: A group of protesting drivers on the Herat-Faryab highway has accused Taliban forces of systematic extortion, alleging that armed members of the group forcibly demand 5,000 Kabuli rupees from each passing vehicle. The drivers, condemning the Taliban’s coercion, corruption, and lack of accountability, assert that there is no clarity regarding where these funds are directed. On Saturday, February 22, the protesting drivers informed the media that they were demonstrating against the Taliban’s illegal toll collection. A video shared with journalists shows Taliban fighters attempting to prevent the drivers from recording the incident, reinforcing allegations of misconduct.
The drivers also provided a sample of the toll receipt, which reveals a non-official document bearing the handwritten signature of a Taliban member and an inscription stating: “Exit date: 14/11/1403” (according to the Solar Hijri calendar). The drivers argue that, in exchange for the forcibly collected 5,000 Kabuli rupees, they receive only a vague, unofficial receipt with no legal basis or transparency regarding how the funds are used. So far, the Taliban leadership has offered no explanation for the unauthorized tolls imposed by its members on Afghanistan’s highways. However, this is not an isolated incident. Drivers have repeatedly complained about harassment, extortion, and arbitrary fees levied by the Taliban’s transportation commissions across the country.
Earlier, truck drivers operating in Herat and the northern provinces had also reported widespread extortion at Taliban-controlled checkpoints. On August 30, 2023, a group of protesting freight drivers at Herat Airport staged demonstrations against the escalating “extra charges” imposed by the Taliban. The protest, however, was met with brutal force, as Taliban fighters opened fire, injuring at least one driver. A widely circulated video from the protest captured a desperate truck driver kneeling before an armed Taliban fighter, pleading for him to shoot him in the chest a harrowing symbol of the oppression and lawlessness suffocating Afghanistan’s transportation sector.