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How Afghanistan's money exchangers "grease the economy"

Sep 23, 2021
The informal network of exchangers are making money available in ways banks can't, says Cambridge research fellow Nafay Choudhury.
“Given the instability in the country, money exchangers are going to become very important, again, in playing an important role to meet financial needs,” says Nafay Choudhury, research fellow at the University of Cambridge.
Javed Tanveer/AFP via Getty Images

What Taliban rule has meant for an Afghan American, personally and professionally

Sep 20, 2021
Homa Sorouri spent years working with international aid organizations in Afghanistan. It's "dreadful," she said, to see the work they did disappear.
People wait to withdraw money outside a bank in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Banks were temporarily closed after the Taliban seized power, adding to the chaos.
Javed Tanveer/Getty Images

From taxes to the drug trade, how the Taliban paid its way

Aug 16, 2021
The Taliban has taxed everything from government projects to international trade.
An Afghan opium poppy farmer at work in 2011. While the Taliban receives income from taxing opium, most of its recent income has come from taxes on legal goods.
Bay Ismoyo/AFP via Getty Images