RASC News Agency: A large group of retired government employees gathered in front of the Treasury and Pension Administration on Saturday, demanding the immediate disbursement of their long-overdue pensions. The demonstrators stated that three months ago, Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban’s supreme leader, issued a decree referring them to special courts for pension verification. However, despite this directive, no payments have been made. According to the retirees, Akhundzada’s decree explicitly affirmed that pension payments would resume. Yet, despite these assurances, not a single disbursement has been processed. One protester expressed frustration, stating that, despite repeated promises from the Taliban, no funds have been deposited into retirees’ accounts.
In a decree issued in early (January–February), the Taliban leader mandated that retired government employees present their cases before special courts to verify their pension eligibility before receiving payments. However, retirees claim that no tangible steps have been taken to implement this directive, leaving them in a state of financial uncertainty. Another demonstrator reported that Taliban officials instructed them to return after Nowruz for updates on their pension status. However, he voiced serious concerns that these payments may once again be delayed or even withheld entirely. Since the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul in (August 2021), government retirees have not received their pensions, a crisis that has sparked widespread frustration and mounting protests among this vulnerable segment of society.
The prolonged non-payment of pensions and the Taliban leadership’s apparent disregard for Mullah Hibatullah’s decree have fueled speculation about internal fractures within the regime’s governance structure, raising pressing questions about the administration’s coherence, authority, and ability to enforce its own directives.
