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A taste. Sections on taxes rising as economy falls, coercion of farmers, extorting businesses, diverting foreign charity to Talib fighters, and increased income from opium cultivation, coal to Pakistan, and mining leases to China can be read at the link. [KabulNow] On April 19, 2022, a plea for relief from oppressive religious taxation turned deadly in a small village in the Qala-e-Zal district of Kunduz province. Taliban
 ...Arabic for students ...
fighters opened fire villagers, who had gathered to demand a reduction in their tithes and taxes, resulting in two deaths and numerous injuries. The confrontation arose from a dispute over the Taliban’s heavy-handedness, and for the villagers, unjust and unaffordable taxes.
Nearly a year later, in February 2023, the Taliban’s Agriculture Department in Kunduz province reported collecting 226 million Afghanis (approximately $3 million) in tithes and zakat, not including taxes and customs. Typically, tithes amount to 10% of crops such as wheat, rice, and other grains, while livestock collects zakat.
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In the initial months of the Taliban’s rule, sources from Ghor, Bamyan, Daikundi, and Ghazni provinces revealed that the Taliban administration imposed religious taxes on all properties and assets, including public utility projects, without any legal foundation. The group employs force to ensure compliance with their demands, occasionally raising the amounts of tithes and taxes.
In Ghor province’s Lal Wa Sarjangal district, the Taliban has imposed a tenth on various assets, including 3,500 Afghanis ($40) for four-cylinder tractors, 2,500 Afghanis ($30) for three-cylinder tractors, 2,000 Afghanis ($25) for electric mills, and 28,000 Afghanis ($300) per year for public-use potato reserves built by the previous government.
People, particularly those in rural areas, argue that the Taliban’s collection methods involve coercion and violence. The imposed taxes significantly burden impoverished farmers and livestock owners, who are already struggling to survive.
To persuade the international community of their superior governance capabilities compared to the previous administration, the Taliban periodically shares detailed information about government and religious taxes collected with media outlets and organizations. Their tactics have garnered some success, as publications such as The Economist, The Conversation, The Wall Street Journal, and the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) have lauded the efficacy of the Taliban’s tax collection system.
On April 10, 2023, the Taliban Ministry of Finance (Treasury) announced a "significant" rise in government revenue for the solar year 1401 (spanning April 2022 to March 2023). The ministry reported that the total revenue for the last fiscal year reached 193.912 billion Afghanis (around $2.236 billion), a 37% increase from the previous year’s revenue, which amounted to $1.407 billion.
ABUSE AND EXTORTION TARGETING THE PUBLIC AND EX-GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES
Last year the New York Times
...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...
reported that approximately 500 former military personnel and babus government employees had been killed or disappeared during the first six months of the Taliban’s rule in Afghanistan.
A separate report by Rawadari, a human rights
...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions...
organization focused on Afghanistan, revealed that the Taliban had illegally and arbitrarily arrested and detained at least 1,976 individuals across 29 provinces between August 15, 2021, and November 15, 2022. This figure included 1,836 men, 136 women, and four children. Moreover, media reports suggest that the detention, torture, and killing of dissidents, former babus government employees, and military personnel increased in early 2023.
Nevertheless, a critical aspect often ignored in discussions of the Taliban’s apprehension, incarceration, and mistreatment of dissidents and former government and military personnel is the underlying motive of extortion. In their quest for control and influence, the Taliban leverages these tactics to extract resources and secure compliance, effectively expanding their power and instilling fear in those who dare to challenge their authority.
Ebadi (not his real name), who worked as a security officer in Balkh province, shared his experience of being targeted for his involvement with the previous government. After being detained and tortured for nearly five months, he said, "Taliban prosecutors told me to ’cleanse my sin,’ I had to pay a certain amount, or I would die in prison." Ebadi eventually paid $10,000 to the Taliban, selling his home to secure his release.
Last December, the ZanTimes news agency reported a tragic case in Jowzjan, where 37-year-old Mohammad Yousuf and his 15-year-old son were killed in the Taliban’s detention when the family couldn’t provide the demanded ransom. Yousuf, a schoolteacher and foreign exchange dealer, faced a grim fate, as a source close to him explained; the deputy of Taliban intelligence in Jowzjan demanded money for Yousuf’s release. Yousuf and his son were killed when the funds couldn’t be provided.
On March 13, 2023, Afghanistan International reported that local money changer Raj Wali met a similar end in Kabul after being subjected to Taliban torture. Raj’s brother, Rahmat Wali, recounted, "Raj was arrested at his shop nearly two weeks prior and transferred to the Taliban’s intelligence headquarters in Jalalabad and later to Kabul." 
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