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The Taliban budget for 2023–24: Prioritizing military spending over citizen welfare
A leaked document detailing the Taliban’s budget for 2023–24 provides insight into the regime’s priorities. The budget shows that the Taliban are directing a significant portion of its funds toward security, including $1.1 billion going to the Ministries of Defense and Interior Affairs, the Directorate of Intelligence, and their subsidiaries. That the regime is spending almost half of its revenues on security represents a significant investment in the Taliban’s military capabilities. That’s an even larger share of the overall budget than is spent by Iran, a theocratic peer of the Taliban. (In contrast, the largest military spender, the United States, devotes less than one sixth of its federal budget to defence.)
That the Taliban is devoting nearly half of its budget to its security shows the prioritization of the regime: The regime is focusing on its ability to consolidate power, maintain control, and fight against opposition groups instead of spending funds to improve the lives of the citizens of Afghanistan. This budgetary choice may have significant long-term implications for Afghanistan and its people.
One implication is that the terrorist regime is not concerned with the well-being of people in the war-torn country. This happens at a time when poverty is raging in the…
