KABUL — Nearly two months into Afghanistan’s fiscal year, Taliban have yet to release any information about the national budget. This marks the fourth consecutive year the budget has been withheld from public view since the Taliban returned to power in 2021.
Amu’s review of the official website of the Taliban-run Ministry of Finance found no publication of either the operational or development budgets for 1404, the current fiscal year in the country. There has also been no disclosure of projected revenues or spending ceilings.
This silence comes amid reports that financial authority within the Taliban administration has shifted from Kabul to Kandahar, where according to sources, their reclusive supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, has established a parallel financial office to directly oversee national revenue and spending.
Multiple sources in Kandahar confirmed to Amu that Akhundzada has marginalized the Ministry of Finance, which is formally responsible for drafting the budget and managing public funds. The ministry is currently led by Mohammad Nasir Akhund, a longtime Taliban figure with no formal training in finance, whose education was in Islamic religious studies in Pakistan.
Large-scale projects approved despite budget secrecy
Although no official budget has been released, the Taliban’s National Procurement Commission, chaired by Taliban Deputy Chief Minister for Economic Affairs Abdul Ghani Baradar, has approved 25 major development projects in the past month alone, with an estimated cost of 20 billion Afghanis (approximately $260 million). The projects are largely concentrated in the southern provinces of Kandahar, Helmand, Zabul, and Uruzgan.
Among key inititavies are a high-voltage transmission line from the Kajaki Dam to Kandahar, substations in eastern Kandahar and Zabul, a road connecting Kandahar to Spin Boldak, expansion of the Nahr-e-Saraj irrigation canal in Helmand and construction on the Qosh Tepa canal in the north.
Baradar’s office recently announced the start of three major projects in Kandahar province alone, valued at over one billion Afghanis, without reference to a broader budget framework or public procurement documentation.
Economists warn that the Taliban’s refusal to publish the national budget opens the door to misuse of public funds and weakens institutional oversight.
“There are two likely reasons the Taliban are not releasing the budget,” said Sayed Haroon Amini, an economic analyst. “First, there’s a lack of transparency in revenue sources — especially customs and mining — which are rife with corruption. Second, there’s no reporting on how public funds are being spent.”
The Ministry of Finance did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Hamidullah Farooqi, a former economic official and analyst, also warned that centralizing decision-making in Kandahar, while bypassing formal institutions, may worsen regional inequalities and weaken national planning.
The concentration of financial authority in the hands of Akhundzada reflects a broader trend within the Taliban’s governance: the consolidation of power in Kandahar, where the group’s top leadership is based and from where key political and financial decisions are increasingly made.
Despite efforts to attract investment and pursue development, the absence of a published national budget and the sidelining of the finance ministry raise doubts about fiscal responsibility, accountability, and equitable economic planning under Taliban rule.
