Some dismissed employees of the Taliban’s municipal administration in Kabul are accusing the group’s officials of discriminatory and arbitrary treatment. They say the Taliban have used various pretexts to remove professional and qualified staff who served in the municipality under the previous government, replacing them with their own loyalists. According to these employees, they were dismissed without any valid justification, charged with negligence and absenteeism based purely on arbitrary decisions. They are calling for their attendance records and work histories to be reviewed, insisting they had no unexcused absences and that their dismissals were based on fabricated accusations.
Their complaints add to a growing pattern of grievances from civil servants working under Taliban control, who say the systematic removal of staff hired during the previous government is ongoing. According to them, the Taliban have dismissed or expressed open distrust toward these employees under various pretexts, while treating many of them in a degrading manner.
Engineer Rahmatullah, one of the dismissed employees, says he served for approximately nine years as an engineer at the Infrastructure Registration and Monitoring Directorate, only to be let go on charges of absenteeism and professional negligence. He is urging the Taliban’s Kabul municipality to consult the electronic attendance system and official records to verify the facts. He says he has been wronged and that nobody will hear him out.
In a letter addressed to the Taliban’s mayor of Kabul, Rahmatullah wrote: “During the third quarter of 2025, I served alongside Engineer Abdul Latif Qambari, Engineer Shafiqullah, and Qari Enayat as members of the construction materials inspection committee. I respectfully request that the Cartography Directorate investigate the matter of approximately 900 cubic meters of base course for the Paghman project, in which document forgery by Mehr Brothers Company and Islam al-Din Yousafzai Company is suspected, to determine whether the signatures are genuine or forged. Furthermore, 591.5 tons of rebar for the Baraki Bridge project were transferred in the presence of a Directorate representative and two members of the inspection committee. Some time later, the manager of National Steel Company requested that the inspection committee certify the weight certificates so the company could process its invoice.”
Rahmatullah continued in the letter: “The Director and the Administrative Deputy [of the Taliban] instructed us not to sign the weight certificates. In the presence of the company manager, company officials threatened us, warning that we would face consequences if we refused to certify the documents. We reported the matter to the Director and Deputy, but our concerns were ignored, and the issue warrants investigation. If these unlawful orders were issued by the Director and Deputy, they constitute a criminal offense. The other members of the committee should likewise be dismissed, and the companies involved should be referred to court.”
Sources also indicate that several Hazara engineers from the 13th and 4th districts of Kabul have been dismissed by the Taliban despite their professional experience. In the 6th district, several Hazara engineers have similarly been removed from their posts by Taliban officials on various pretexts, and the trend shows no sign of stopping.
Separately, other sources describe intense pressure on employees and workers at the Taliban’s Kabul municipality. They say most workers are required to be on the job from 6:30 in the morning until 5:30 in the evening every day, including Thursdays, and are treated in conditions resembling those of prisoners.
Sources also raise concerns about rising administrative corruption within the Taliban-controlled institution. The Work, Maintenance, and Upkeep Directorate is currently procuring cement for Kabul municipality projects without contracts, without public tenders, and without laboratory testing. According to sources, these projects are awarded to companies affiliated with or close to Taliban officials, with contracts effectively guaranteed to those same firms in advance.
This comes against a backdrop of longstanding complaints about arbitrary treatment and pressure on former government employees across state institutions under Taliban control. The Hasht-e Subh Daily previously reported that Abdul Hakim Sharayi, the Taliban’s Minister of Justice, has dismissed more than 700 employees over the past four years through extensive abuse of his authority, seized public and private assets, and created key positions and resources for his relatives and family members. According to that report, he recently dismissed 70 additional employees on charges of insufficient loyalty to the Taliban. He also confiscated their mobile phones, reviewed their social media accounts, and replaced experienced professional staff with religious seminary students.
YOu can read the Persian version of this report here:
برکناری کارمندان در شهرداری طالبان؛ شکایت از برخوردهای سلیقهای و تبعیضآمیز در کابل
