The Taliban government said on Tuesday it was expanding its “food for work” program in Afghanistan, which uses donated wheat instead of cash to pay public sector workers.
Much of the wheat that will be used for payment was donated by India to the previous government, which was supported by the United States.
The raw material is being used to pay 40,000 workers. The “salary” paid by the government must be 10 kg of wheat a day for a five-hour job, agricultural officials told a news conference.
The scheme, which largely paid workers in public works programs in Kabul, will be expanded across the country, Afghan officials said.
“We are ready to help our people as much as we can,” said Fazel Bari Fazli, deputy minister of administration and finance at the Ministry of Agriculture.
The Taliban has already received another 18 tonnes of wheat from Pakistan and has promised to send another 37 tonnes. The government is also negotiating with India the arrival of another 55 tonnes, said Fazli.
“We have a lot of plans for the food for work program,” he said.
It was unclear how much of the wheat donated by the countries would be used as direct humanitarian aid and how much it would pay workers.
The expanding program highlights the growing dilemma facing the Taliban government as cash in the country runs low because of strict restrictions on financial flows into the country.
International sanctions against Taliban members, frozen central bank assets and a sudden drop in international assistance, which once formed the backbone of the economy, have left the government with limited finances and a growing economic crisis.
Humanitarian aid continues as foreign governments try to keep millions of people from going hungry.
This aid, however, is designed to bypass official Taliban channels and is mainly distributed through international multilateral institutions.
UN agencies on Tuesday asked donors for $4.4 billion in humanitarian aid for Afghanistan to be delivered over the course of 2022.
An endowment fund is considered “essential” to ensure the country’s future, the UN says.
Reference: CNN Brasil
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