Residents of eastern Nuristan province report that the Taliban administration has substantially increased transit taxes on pine nuts and walnuts. According to local farmers, tax collectors now demand 500 Afghanis per seer of pine nuts and 100 Afghanis per seer of walnuts.
Locals from Mandol district told media outlets that officials previously charged just 100 Afghanis for an entire bag of pine nuts weighing roughly seven seers. They stated that the new rates represent a steep multiplication of taxes that impoverished harvesters cannot afford.
Local sources indicated that the revised tax rates were established by the Taliban's provincial Directorate of Agriculture and Livestock. Checkpoint personnel enforce payments by issuing official paper receipts to villagers transporting their harvests along main transport routes.
The collection drive affects residents across Mandol, Nurgaram, and Do Ab districts. The enforcement began on September 22, directly coinciding with the start of the annual autumn harvest season for forest produce in the province.
Villagers in western Nuristan explained that their subsistence depends entirely on seasonal sales of pine nuts, walnuts, and beans. They haul these goods to regional markets in Laghman province to purchase staple foods such as flour, cooking oil, and rice, but now face checkpoints along the way.
According to residents, roughly 20 to 25 commercial vehicles travel daily from these three districts toward Laghman, with shipments sometimes carrying around 100 seers of pine nuts. Harvesters urged provincial authorities to lower the taxes amid severe economic hardship.
Source: Afghanistan International
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