Azadi Briefing

Welcome to The Azadi Briefing, an RFE/RL newsletter that unpacks the key issues in Afghanistan. To subscribe, click here.

I'm Abubakar Siddique, senior correspondent at RFE/RL's Radio Azadi. Here's what I've been tracking and what I'm keeping an eye on in the days ahead.

The Key Issue

The Taliban has abolished the pension system in Afghanistan, which is gripped by a devastating economic and humanitarian crisis.

The move has triggered protests by retirees who say they cannot survive without state assistance.

Scores of retired civil servants and retired members of the armed forces staged a rally in Kabul on April 20. The protest was dispersed by the Taliban.

"We are just trying to claim our rights," Aafandi Sangar, the head of the Afghan Pensioners Association, told RFE/RL's Radio Azadi. "We are miserable because we have not received any payments for nearly three years."

An estimated 150,000 pensioners received a monthly payment of around $100 from the state before the Taliban seized power in 2021. Retirees say they have not been paid their pensions since then. Many of the pensioners served governments that had fought against the Taliban.

In early April, the Taliban's spiritual leader, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, ordered his government to stop deducting retirement contributions from the salaries of civil servants, effectively dismantling the pension system. Akhundzada suggested that the system was "un-Islamic."

Why It's Important: The Taliban's decision to scrap pensions threatens the future of tens of thousands of current government employees.

The group's refusal to pay pensions since 2021 has also pushed many retirees and their families deeper into poverty. The decision this month dashed their hopes.

"How will we live now?" asked one retiree, speaking to Radio Azadi. "We used our pensions to provide for our families."

The Taliban has repeatedly promised to build a welfare state in Afghanistan. But the group's decision to scrap pensions suggests that it is unlikely to fulfil its pledges.

What's Next: The Taliban leadership has vowed to create a "pure" Islamic system in Afghanistan.

The group has used religious justification to scrap the pension system. Pensions involve interest, which the Taliban has said is forbidden under Islam.

The group's extremist interpretation of Islamic law is likely to continue shaping the decisions of its government.

What To Keep An Eye On

A senior cleric who was believed to be a close aide of the Taliban's spiritual leader has been killed in neighboring Pakistan.

Mullah Mohammad Omar Jan Akhundzada was shot dead in Quetta, the capital of Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan Province, on April 18.

The chief Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said his death was an "irreparable loss."

Local police said the cleric possessed Pakistani citizenship and had lived in Quetta for many years.

Many Taliban leaders were believed to have lived in Quetta, near the Afghan border, during the group's nearly 20-year insurgency against Afghan government forces and international troops.

Why It's Important: Akhundzada's mysterious killing has raised questions.

Some have speculated that the Pakistani authorities could have been behind it.

Islamabad and the Taliban were close allies for decades. But the sides have fallen out in recent years, with Pakistan accusing the Taliban of sheltering the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan, an extremist group that has waged a deadly insurgency against Islamabad for years.

Islamabad has tried to use pressure tactics, including the mass deportation of Afghan refugees from Pakistan, to change Taliban policy, according to observers.

That's all from me for now. Don't forget to send me any questions, comments, or tips that you have. You can always reach us at azadi.english@rferl.org

Until next time,

Abubakar Siddique

If you enjoyed this briefing and don't want to miss the next edition, subscribe here. It will be sent to your inbox every Friday.

Welcome to The Azadi Briefing, an RFE/RL newsletter that unpacks the key issues in Afghanistan. To subscribe, click here.

I'm Abubakar Siddique, senior correspondent at RFE/RL's Radio Azadi. Here's what I've been tracking and what I'm keeping an eye on in the days ahead.

The Key Issue

As part of its widening crackdown on the media, the Taliban’s hard-line government has shut down two television stations.

On April 16, the media complaints commission within the Taliban's Information Ministry ordered the immediate suspension of the broadcasts from the Noor and Barya channels.

Commission members said the stations were shut for "violating Afghan and Islamic values and journalistic principles.”

A Taliban court will now decide whether the suspension can be lifted or turned into a permanent ban.

Jamiat-e Islami owns Noor TV, while Hizb-e Islami runs Barya. Both are leading Islamist groups who have opposed the Taliban. These stations ran Islamic programs.

Since it emerged as a ragtag militia in the mid-1990s, the Taliban has opposed and fought against the two groups, which it held responsible for the vicious civil war following the demise of Afghanistan’s pro-Soviet socialist government in 1992.

Why It's Important: The ban is a clear manifestation of the Taliban’s intent to outlaw media that does not conform to its Islamist ideology and worldview.

With the suspension of the stations, the Taliban is indicating that there is no space even for media outlets that are ostensibly Islamic and which cannot be accused of immorality or debauchery.

"This is worrying,” Samia Walizadeh, the head of the Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC), an independent media watchdog, told RFE/RL'S Radio Azadi. “The reasons given by the [Taliban] commission for suspending the broadcasts of these two media outlets are unacceptable."

Saddiqullah Tohidi, a press freedom activist, agreed. He said that the Taliban closed the two stations without even bothering to first prove their accusations.

“In a country that lacks a constitution, how can you prove a violation of national interests and Islamic principles?” he asked. “Afghanistan has turned into one of the most censored nations.”

What's Next: The Taliban is forging ahead to create a media environment that only reflects its views and serves its interests.

The extremist Islamist group ultimately aims to replace all journalism with propaganda. It attempts to achieve this by closing or outlawing independent Afghan media and discouraging or banning international press outlets from covering Afghanistan.

Fading international interest in the country provides a more conducive atmosphere for the Taliban to achieve its ideological goals.

What To Keep An Eye On

Statistics issued by the Taliban-led government show a drop in Afghanistan's exports and an increase in imports.

On April 16, the Taliban’s National Statistics and Information Authority released figures showing a nearly 20 percent decline in exports in the first three months of this year -- to $134 million from $176 million during the same period last year.

The country’s imports, however, surged from $694 million during the first quarter of last year to $793 million this year.

A recent World Bank report on the Afghan economy recorded similar trends.

Experts attribute the decline to the Taliban’s tense relations with neighboring Pakistan, which is one of its leading trading partners. Islamabad also provides ports to the landlocked nation.

"Pakistan closed its border crossings while pomegranates and other fruit crops were ready for export," said Khan Jan Alakozai, a senior official of the Afghanistan-Pakistan Joint Chamber of Commerce.

He said coal prices also plummeted in the same period, impacting Afghanistan's export earnings.

Why It's Important: Afghan macroeconomic trends might continue to deteriorate if the Taliban's relations with Pakistan do not improve.

Tehran's ongoing standoff with Israel threatens the alternative import route the Taliban wants to build through Iran.

That's all from me for now. Don't forget to send me any questions, comments, or tips that you have. You can always reach us at azadi.english@rferl.org

Until next time,

Abubakar Siddique

If you enjoyed this briefing and don't want to miss the next edition, subscribe here. It will be sent to your inbox every Friday. You can always reach us at azadi.english@rferl.org