- Title: Afghans say commodity prices have skyrocked after Taliban takeover
- Date: 24th August 2021
- Summary: KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (AUGUST 24, 2021) (REUTERS) (MUTE) TRUCK LOADED WITH BAGS (MUTE) BAGS STACKED IN SHOP (MUTE) VARIOUS OF LENTILS AND BEANS IN CONTAINERS PEOPLE WALKING IN BAZAAR (SOUNDBITE) (Dari) TRADER, GHULAM HUSSAIN, SAYING: "The commodities are less. Prices of daily use commodities have gone up because the price of the dollar has gone up." (MUTE) BAGS OF FLOUR, LENTILS, AND OTHER ITEMS STACKED IN THE SHOP (SOUNDBITE) (Pashto) MAN WHO WORKS AT FLOUR WAREHOUSE, ALI AHMED, SAYING: "Traders are bringing fewer commodities here because of the dollar price. Earlier, the warehouses used to be full of flour sacks but now there is not much there (in warehouses) because of sky-rocketing dollar price." (MUTE) SHOPWORKERS SITTING OUTSIDE SHOP (SOUNDBITE) (Pashto) KABUL RESIDENT, GULA JAN, SAYING: "Now that the dollar price has increased against Afghani (currency), the cost of flour and oil has gone up here. That is why people are taking goods from other places (countries)." FLOUR BAGS
- Embargoed: 7th September 2021 20:04
- Keywords: Afghanistan Afghans Kabul Taliban dollar high prices traders warehouses
- Location: KABUL, AFGHANISTAN
- City: KABUL, AFGHANISTAN
- Country: Afghanistan
- Topics: Asia / Pacific,Conflicts/War/Peace,Insurgencies
- Reuters ID: LVA001ERN0XFR
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: More than a week after the Taliban's lightning seizure of Kabul, Afghans said they faced skyrocketing commodity prices.
"The commodities are less. Prices of daily use commodities have gone up because the price of the dollar has gone up," trader Ghulam Hussain said on Tuesday (August 24).
Ali Ahmed, who works at a flour warehouse, said traders were bringing fewer commodities because the afghani currency had plunged.
"Earlier the warehouses used to be full of flour sacks but now there is not much there (in warehouses) because of sky-rocketing dollar price," Ahmed said.
Even before the Taliban swept into the city last Sunday (August 15), conditions had been getting worse, with the insurgents' rapid advance through the provincial cities sending the value of the local afghani currency plunging against the dollar and pushing prices of basic foodstuffs ever higher.
Meanwhile, Western troops at Kabul airport worked frantically on Tuesday to evacuate people from Afghanistan before an Aug. 31 deadline as U.S. President Joe Biden faced growing pressure to negotiate more time for the airlift. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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