RASC News Agency: Neda Mohammad Nadim, the Taliban’s acting Minister of Higher Education, has once again made sweeping assertions about Afghanistan’s job market, claiming that university graduates should not turn to small businesses or shopkeeping but instead seek employment in their specialized fields. In a speech released by Taliban-controlled state radio and television on Monday, Nadim declared: “Engineering graduates must work in their field, not open grocery shops.” He further insisted that broad opportunities exist for professional, technical, and mining-related employment across Afghanistan, and that graduates should remain in the country rather than seek opportunities abroad.
Nadim alleged that private companies, particularly in the mining sector, offer “ample opportunities” for graduates, suggesting that this could both fuel economic development and reduce the mass emigration of Afghanistan’s skilled youth. Yet the Taliban minister’s claims stand in stark contradiction to Afghanistan’s lived reality. The country’s economy, devastated by isolation, sanctions, and the regime’s mismanagement, offers few credible opportunities for its educated youth. University graduates consistently report crippling unemployment, economic stagnation, and a lack of investment. Many are compelled to abandon their academic fields altogether, turning instead to menial labor, small-scale trading, or shopkeeping simply to survive. Others, disillusioned and desperate, seek escape through perilous migration routes to neighboring countries.
Meanwhile, the Taliban’s employment practices reveal a stark hypocrisy. In government ministries and state institutions, loyalty to the group’s extremist ideology, tribal affiliation, or wartime service in Taliban ranks frequently outweighs academic merit or professional expertise. International watchdogs and aid organizations have repeatedly documented that the Taliban prioritize allegiance and identity over education when appointing staff to civil service positions. In many cases, former fighters with little to no formal education are granted key posts, while university graduates are sidelined or forced into underemployment. This contradiction underscores a broader crisis: while Taliban officials publicly boast of “vast opportunities” for graduates, the regime itself actively undermines the very notion of meritocracy, replacing professional governance with ideological patronage. The absence of female doctors, teachers, and professionals banned from employment under Taliban decrees has further crippled Afghanistan’s already fragile economy and stripped millions of women of both livelihoods and access to basic services.
Economic experts argue that without genuine investment, transparency, and an inclusive labor market, the Taliban’s claims amount to little more than propaganda. Afghanistan’s labor market remains stagnant, unable to absorb even a fraction of the tens of thousands of graduates entering the job pool annually. The result is an escalating crisis of mass unemployment, brain drain, and the systemic erosion of higher education’s value. Ultimately, Nadim’s statements reflect a deliberate attempt to mask the Taliban’s own failures by projecting a manufactured narrative of opportunity. The reality, however, is that under Taliban rule, Afghanistan’s educated youth remain trapped between unemployment at home and forced migration abroad, with little hope of meaningful professional futures within their own country.
