Taliban increase payment in wheat

The Taliban administration said on Tuesday it was expanding its 'food for work' program, in which it uses donated wheat to pay thousands of public sector employees instead of cash as a financial crisis intensifies.

Wheat, largely donated by India to the previous US-backed Kabul government, is being used to pay 40,000 workers 10kg of wheat per day for working five hours a day, agriculture officials told a news conference.

The scheme, which has largely paid labourers on public works programs in Kabul, will be expanded around the country, they said.