Kabul, June 5, 2025 — As Eid ul Adha approaches, Afghan civil servants are grappling with financial hardships due to delayed salary payments. The Taliban government’s recurring difficulties in disbursing wages have left many families unable to afford traditional celebrations.

Abdul Saboor, a 45-year-old employee of the Parwan provincial government’s rural development department, expressed his distress: “We bought only cookies and dried fruits for Eid,” he said, noting that the funds received were used to repay debts to shopkeepers.

The Ministry of Finance announced that it is in the process of paying two months’ worth of unpaid salaries to civil servants, though no explanation was provided for the delays or assurances for future timely payments.

In Kabul and Kandahar, government employees lined up at banks to collect their overdue wages. Hayatullah, a 21-year-old teacher, received only one month’s salary and lamented, “We will try to make ends meet. But we can’t afford the Eid expenses.”

The economic challenges are compounded by the Taliban’s prioritization of security spending over other departments, leading to budgetary constraints. Additionally, last year saw salary reductions for women staff forced to stay home due to restrictions on working in mixed offices.

The World Bank highlighted in an April report that Afghanistan faces “persistent liquidity constraints and broader challenges in ensuring timely government expenditures,” with an uncertain economic outlook marked by growing fiscal pressures and entrenched poverty.

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