A number of daily wage workers in Kandahar say that despite making daily efforts to find employment, people with connections to and affiliations with the Taliban are being hired for some government projects instead of workers who are genuinely in need of jobs.
These workers gather mainly in the Chuni area, in the second district of Kandahar city, as well as in several other locations, hoping to secure a day’s work. However, many return home without earning any income. Some say they sometimes go four to five consecutive days without finding work.
Noorullah, a skilled painter who has travelled to Kandahar from Shajoy district in Zabul province, says he manages to find work only one or two days a week. According to him, providing for his family of six has become increasingly difficult due to his irregular income.
Some workers allege that recruitment for projects run by the Municipality, the Department of Rural Rehabilitation and Development, and several other institutions is based on personal connections and the trust of Taliban officials. One worker, who requested anonymity, said that after working for several months in the Municipality’s sanitation department, he and several other workers were dismissed and replaced by individuals close to the Taliban.
Some of these workers have also travelled to mines in the provinces of Badakhshan and Faryab in search of employment opportunities. However, they say that even there, preference was given to individuals with connections to officials and employers.
These complaints come as the Taliban regularly announce the launch of reconstruction projects. Nevertheless, workers say that employment opportunities created through these projects are not distributed fairly among job seekers.
Meanwhile, the lack of employment opportunities and the stagnation of the labour market have driven some young people to take illegal and irregular routes into neighbouring countries in search of work, exposing many of them to the risk of arrest along the way.
Writer:Roya Stanikzai
