Taliban offer wheat instead of money for labour to tackle unemployment
Oct 25, 2021
Kabul [Afghanistan], October 25 : The Taliban's interim government in Afghanistan have announced to offer wheat to thousands of people in exchange for labour, a media report said.
Through the plan, the Taliban aim to employ nearly 40,000 men in Kabul. The plan will be implemented in several major cities of Afghanistan, reported Dawn.
Underlining that the plan is a key step to fight unemployment and tackle hunger in the country, the Taliban's chief spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said that the labourers must work hard.
Currently, Afghanistan already is suffering from poverty, drought, electricity blackouts and a failing economic system.
Under the plan, nearly 11,600 tons of wheat will be distributed in Kabul in two months. And about 55,000 tons for elsewhere in the country, including Herat, Jalalabad, Kandahar, Mazar-i-Sharif and Pol-i-Khomri.
In Kabul, the plan will include digging water channels and catchment terraces for snow in the hills to combat drought.
Earlier on Saturday, Swedish Development Minister Per Olsson Fridh warned that Afghanistan would collapse into chaos unless the international community acted rapidly.
"The country is on the brink of collapse and that collapse is coming faster than we thought," Fridh said.
Emphasising that economic freefall could provide an environment for terrorist groups to thrive, Fridh stressed that Sweden would not channel money through the Taliban, instead, it will boost humanitarian contributions through Afghan civil society groups, according to Dawn.
