Retirees call on Taliban regime to pay pensions amid financial crisis

Kabul [Afghanistan], February 1 : As Afghanistan witnesses a severe financial crisis, retired government employees and military veterans have complained that the Taliban is yet to pay their pensions, local media reported.
These retired employees and military veterans of the former Afghan government led by Ashraf Ghani, who rely on their retirement pensions, said that they are struggling with economic difficulties, Tolo News reported.
Abdul Hameed, a military veteran, said that he provided service to the country for a long period. Hameed said that he is living a poor life amid the cold winter.
"I haven't received any pension yet. No one paid me my retirement pension. I was promoted to major, but they did not consider it in my retirement pension," Tolo News quoted Hameed as saying.
He is one of dozens of military veterans and former government employees who have not been paid their retirement salaries since the Taliban swept into power in mid-August last year.
"Every retired individual is the breadwinner of their families and is responsible for their families. We are old, we can't labor or go work as vendors," Tolo News quoted Mohammad Sabir, a retired man as saying.
They called on the Taliban to take immediate steps to pay the retired individuals.
The humanitarian situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated drastically since the Taliban took control of Kabul last year.
A combination of a suspension of foreign aid, the freezing of Afghan government assets, and international sanctions on the Taliban, have plunged the country, already suffering from high poverty levels, into a full-blown economic crisis.