Kabul: Retired officials stage protest over unpaid pensions

A sizable demonstration against unpaid pensions was staged in Kabul on Monday, the capital of Afghanistan, according to TOLOnews. 

The demonstration was organised by retired military troops and civil servants from past administrations. They claimed that because they had not received pay in the preceding 16 months, they are having a difficult time surviving the bitter winter. 

Nothing is available to heat our rooms. We have three families living there, and I pay 4,000 Afs in rent. We don’t have anything to eat, and I’m with my in-laws,” Alina, a

former government employee, told TOLOnews.

The demonstrators demanded that the Taliban pay their pensions.

“It has been around one and a half years since the Islamic Emirate gave us promises to pay our pensions, but we are yet to be paid,” said Zabiullah, a retiree.

Another retiree, Omar also described his plight and said, “We have served this country with honesty. We are all facing economic challenges and all of us have families.”

Since the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan on August 15, 2021, the world community has voiced concern about the status of its citizens and demanded that the Taliban uphold the fundamental human rights of its citizens.  Afghanistan’s rates of poverty, hunger, and unemployment remain at their highest points despite the help. For Afghans, who today find themselves in the midst of one of the worst humanitarian crises in recorded history, natural disasters have made the situation even worse.