Taliban’s Opaque Contracts: While People Struggle for Bread, a $38,000 Laptop Purchase Raises Questions.
In a controversial move, the Taliban’s Ministry of Interior has announced the purchase of a laptop for its Criminal Investigation Department at a cost exceeding $38,000 a figure several times higher than the price of even the most expensive laptops currently available in Afghanistan’s market.
While even advanced, specialized forensic devices on the global market can be obtained at significantly lower prices, the ministry’s official notice provides no technical specifications, brand name, or transparent details regarding the procurement.
The complete absence of information about the type of equipment has raised serious questions regarding pricing mechanisms and the procurement process.
This is not an isolated case. According to the same tender results, millions of Afghanis have also been allocated for photocopy machines, toner cartridges, and several computer-related items again without specifying model, capacity, or brand.
The figures appear inconsistent with prevailing market rates in Kabul. The lack of transparency and failure to provide technical details have reinforced perceptions that procurement procedures have shifted away from accountability toward opaque, behind-the-scenes decision-making.
These substantial expenditures come at a time when the Afghan population faces widespread poverty, unemployment, and an acute humanitarian crisis.
Critics argue that a group that came to power under the banner of Sharia law and anti-corruption commitments now appears not only to have distanced itself from those pledges but also to exhibit signs of broader corruption than during the previous republican period.
As citizens grapple with severe economic hardship and as women, who constitute half of society, face unprecedented restrictions the prioritization of ambiguous contracts and large sums paints a picture of governance more focused on resource consolidation within limited circles than on public welfare.
