Abdul Qahar Ghorbandi, head of Afghanistan’s Taxpayers Services Directorate, has the hard job of raising money in an impoverished country hobbled by international sanctions.
He is the Taxman of Kabul, a bearded, black-turbaned Talib with a genial manner and the calculating mind of a computer-savvy accountant.
As director of the Taliban’s Taxpayers Services Directorate, Abdul Qahar Ghorbandi has the unenviable task of raising revenue for the government of a wretchedly poor, isolated nation.
From his perch behind an enormous desk next to a black and white Taliban flag, Mr. Ghorbandi rides herd on hundreds of Afghan taxpayers each weekday. He makes sure they arrive with income documentation and leave with a fistful of tax forms to fill out.
Teachers, money changers, truckers, wedding planners, grocers and others trudge the worn hallways of the imposing tax building, discussing their taxes with Talibs pecking away at computer terminals.
The Taliban have sought to ramp up tax collection after a severe economic contraction that followed their takeover in 2021. The authoritarian regime has been crippled by sanctions, in part over its harsh restrictions on women and girls.
U.S. aid, drastically reduced since 2021, could be eliminated entirely under President Trump’s budget cuts. That aid has gone to the United Nations and nongovernmental organizations working in Afghanistan, not directly to the Taliban government.
