Political Group Claims Taliban's Defence Ministry’s Budget For 2024 Double Than Last Year

Led by former Afghan Vice-President Amrullah Saleh, Afghanistan's Green Trend (AGT), has reported that the Taliban's Ministry of Defence has requested a budget for 2024 that is double in value than that of the one sanctioned for 2023.

Taliban’s last year's defence budget was nearly 40 billion Afghanis, while this year's request exceeds 80 billion Afghanis.

On Friday, Afghanistan's Green Trend disclosed that it has accessed confidential documents from the Taliban’s Defence Ministry. They highlighted that although the Taliban keeps their security sector's budget highly confidential, they lack the expertise necessary to adequately safeguard their confidential documents.

The detailed data provided by Afghanistan's Green Trend shows that in 2023, the Ministry of Defence’s budget was over 39 billion Afghanis. For 2024, the requested budget is over 80 billion Afghanis.

This increase reflects a doubling from the previous year, attributed to escalating threats and internal rivalries within the Taliban. According to AGT, internal conflicts among Taliban leaders have so far prevented the approval of this year's proposed budget.

The breakdown of the Taliban’s defence ministry budget reveals that the majority of the budget is allocated to the directorates of weapons and tactics, strategic supplies, and administrative sectors. Notably, the budget for the weapons and tactics directorate has surged from 625 million Afghanis last year to 21 billion Afghanis this year.

Furthermore, while the strategic supplies directorate received over 12 billion Afghanis last year, it has requested more than 22 billion Afghanis for this year. The Ministry of Defence has also sought increased funding for the human resources sector in 2024.