Sources reveal widespread corruption, extortion, and abuse of passengers and traders at the Kabul Airport customs department. According to the sources, a circle of people close to the Taliban customs chief takes bribes in exchange for clearing goods and assigning different valuations to items, and if passengers and traders do not comply with their demands, they block the entry of phones, medicine, and other goods by imposing restrictions. The sources also say that the Taliban customs chief has dismissed several former workers and replaced them with people close to him, and has provided living quarters for some workers inside the customs building. The Hasht-e Subh Daily has also reviewed a video showing that some customs offices have been turned into sleeping quarters for workers. Despite complaints from traders, the sources say that no attention has so far been paid to addressing the demands of traders and passengers. The sources say that passengers who bring phones or medicine from abroad for family members or friends are forced to either pay bribes or abandon their belongings.
The sources accuse Mullah Mohammad Anwar Jihadyar, the head of Kabul Airport Customs, of widespread corruption and abuse of his position over passengers and traders. According to the sources, this Taliban official’s corruption has gone beyond limits, and there is no institution or authority to hear the voice of the people.
A source who asked for anonymity in the report says Mohammad Anwar Jihadyar, the head of Kabul Airport Customs, is extensively involved in corruption and extorts money from traders and passengers. According to this source, if someone does not respond positively to his demands, he blocks the process of their affairs by imposing restrictions and forces them to comply with this Taliban official’s demands to move their goods through this customs office.
This source says: “When passengers come home from abroad or to visit their families, it is natural that they bring one or two phones or other necessary items as gifts. But the Taliban do not allow the entry of more than two phones. Those who newly enter the country, out of fear, leave their belongings with the customs employees of this group and pass through customs themselves.”
According to him, those who have traveled back and forth several times are aware of this process and negotiate with customs employees, and by paying a bribe, get their belongings back. Otherwise, the customs fee set by the Taliban ends up higher than the price of the goods themselves. As a result, many people abandon the items and goods they bring with them at customs. According to this source, the value of these goods reaches millions of Afghanis annually.
This source adds: “When an item is confiscated at customs, the person is told that if they clear it through customs, it will cost, for example, 300 to 400 dollars. But if they do not clear it through customs, we will release it to them without customs clearance for a payment of 100 to 200 dollars. What does this mean? Theft and plunder are underway, and this is officially extortion and bribery. If this act is illegal, why do you release him after receiving a bribe?”
Another source says: “The chief’s driver, the chief’s electrician, and two other people form a group at the airport terminal. Some time ago, about 200 empty mobile phone cartons were found in their possession. When they were asked about it, they said that people had taken their phones and left the cartons behind.”
This source adds: “In addition to creating problems for traders’ goods, they also create problems for those who bring medicine from abroad for their sick relatives. They do not even allow the entry of a single packet of paracetamol without a prescription, until they receive a bribe. Dozens of people bring medicine with them daily, and their patients desperately need it, but the Taliban do not allow the entry of these medicines, and then sell these medicines in the market.”
According to this source, if passengers and traders pay money to customs employees, an item worth 1,000 afghanis will be valued at 200 afghanis. Conversely, if no bribe is paid, the same item will be priced at three to four thousand afghanis, and duties will be collected based on that valuation.
Likewise, the sources confirm that the Taliban customs chief in Kabul has dismissed former employees of this institution who used to transfer traders’ goods and has instead employed mostly people affiliated with himself. According to the sources, contrary to regulations, he has allocated rooms for these people in the customs building and charges traders large sums of money for their work, while paying them only 200 Afghanis per day.
The Hasht-e Subh Daily has also reviewed a video showing that Kabul customs offices have been turned into sleeping rooms for Taliban workers, with bedding, cots, and living supplies placed inside these rooms. The sources also claim that this Taliban official previously served as a bodyguard for the Taliban finance minister, and traders have repeatedly raised this problem with the group’s finance minister, but no action has been taken on the matter so far.
According to the source, goods entering from abroad are packaged in plastic, which is not supposed to be opened. However, customs employees open the plastic packaging of the goods, and in just seven days, according to the source, they earned 50,000 Afghanis from selling the plastic packaging of people’s belongings.
This comes as Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index 2025, published in 2026, ranked Afghanistan 169th out of 182 countries with a score of 16 out of 100. Likewise, a World Bank review indicates a decline in informal payments in some sectors since the Taliban’s return to power, though the institution has continued to report bribery in the import, export, and tax payment processes. At the same time, the United Nations also criticized corruption and the plundering of national resources in Afghanistan in 2026.
This comes as the Taliban have repeatedly claimed to have eliminated corruption in Afghanistan. However, field reports and findings from international institutions show that administrative corruption remains one of the serious challenges in Afghanistan, and the country remains among those with the highest levels of corruption in the world.
You can read the Persian version of this report here:
از باجگیری تا تبدیل دفترها به خوابگاه؛ در گمرک میدان هوایی کابل چه میگذرد؟
