Afghan Taliban Sack Thousands of Ex-communists Employees
The massive purge involved government employees who were members of the former Communist Party, or people trained in the Soviet Bloc countries and decorated for their services to the pro-Moscow regimes from 1978 to 1992.
Sources here said at least 1,600 officers and other functionaries from the Interior Ministry and several thousands from the Defence Ministry have been made redundant.
The Taliban rulers declared them "unfavorable" people and laid them off without any pension benefits and also directed all state organs not to re-employ them, a dismissed employee said.
The authorities however denied the claims as exaggerated, saying some job cuts were ordered because of over-employment by previous regimes.
The Taliban, which seized Kabul in 1996 and has enforced tough Islamic rule over most of the country under their control, have sacked a large number of civil servants since they came to power.
"I have no other option but to ask friends and relatives for handouts," a recently dismissed traffic police officer said.
"With their assistance I was only able to buy plain bread for my family," he said.
Another police officer said his dismissal was a "big shock" for him, AFP reported.
"I have 20 years of service plus 15 years of my formal education. It is so sad to be dismissed like this without any pension rights," he said.
The taliban regime last year dismissed around 50 percent of the state employees, including all female teachers.
Deputy Finance Minister Abdul Hadi Akhondzadah declined to give the exact number of the latest purge, saying the redundancies were because of over-employment.
"The cuts are to create a balance (between the work and the staff strength) and their salaries," he said adding that the move was not because of financial constraints.
"There is no shortage of finances. There is not such a shortage to bring every thing to a half," he said.