The Islamic Emirate’s economic deputy, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, said that a committee has been established under his leadership to gather and organize Kabul’s beggars in accordance with orders from the leader of the Islamic Emirate.
“In accordance with the order of the leader of the Islamic Emirate, we gather the poor and beggars from the city and give them employment and salaries in various areas of the city,” he said.
According to Baradar, the committee will start its work on Saturday, and after stabilizing and gathering the beggars, some of them will be provided with job opportunities and they will be financially supported.
“We will provide the destitute and beggars with jobs based on their abilities after processing them,” he stated.
Meanwhile, some analysts believe that this committee won’t succeed without the help of the international community.
“Since Afghanistan is regarded a poor country and 97% of Afghans are considered to be living below the poverty line, I think that it will be very difficult for the Afghan government, which lacks financial support from the outside world, to use its internal resources to provide the job opportunity for them,” said Abdul Nasir Reshtia, an economist.
Poverty and unemployment are one of the main challenges of the current government, which has lead some of the citizens to resort to begging to find a piece of bread for their families.
“The Islamic Emirate should provide jobs not only for beggars, but to all the citizens,” said a resident of Kabul.
According to the office of the second deputy prime minister, the supervisors of the beggars will be asked for a commitment that they won’t beg in the future. The office also stated that they will provide the child beggars access to education.
