The Washington Post - USA (2022-05-02)

A10 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.MONDAY, MAY 2 , 2022

The World

FRANCE

Violence breaks out at

Paris May Day protests

Police fired tear gas to push
back black-clad anarchists who
ransacked businesses in Paris on
Sunday during May Day protests
over the policies of newly reelected
President Emmanuel Macron.
Thousands joined marches
across France, calling for salary
increases and for Macron to drop a
plan to raise the retirement age.
Most of the protests were
peaceful, but violence broke out in
the capital, where police arrested
54 people, Interior Minister Gérald
Darmanin said on Twitter. Eight
officers were injured, he said.
About 250 rallies were

organized in cities across France.

— Reuters

GUINEA

Junta says civilian rule

is likely to take 3 years

The military junta in Guinea

said its transition back to civilian

rule will probably take more than

three years, a proposal likely to

upset West Africa’s political bloc,

which has called for a swift return

to constitutional order.

Col. Mamady Doumbouya, the

head of the junta that took power

in a coup in September, told state

TV over the weekend that he was

considering a 39-month transition

— the first time he has proposed a

timeline.

Military leaders have snatched

power in Mali, Burkina Faso and

Guinea over the past two years.

The coups have put the countries

at odds with the Economic

Community of West African

States, which is trying to put

power back in civilian hands.

— Reuters

Egypt frees 3 journalists:

Egyptian authorities have freed

three journalists, the head of a

journalists union said. Ammer

Abdel-Moneim, Hany Greisha and

Essam Abdeen had spent about a

year and a half in detention. They

were released pending

investigations into initial charges

of misuse of social media and

joining a terrorist group,

apparently a reference to the

Muslim Brotherhood. Egypt

designated it a terrorist

organization in 2013. The three

journalists have yet to face trial.

Turkish police detain dozens in

May Day protests: Riot police

arrested dozens of protesters

trying to reach Istanbul’s main

Taksim Square for May Day

demonstrations against economic

hardship caused by raging

inflation. The governor’s office had

allowed May Day celebrations to

be held in another district and

deemed gatherings in all other

locations illegal. The office said

164 protesters were detained.

Turkey’s annual inflation rate is

expected to rise to 68 percent in

April.

— From news services

DIGEST

LEWIS JOLY/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Demonstrators carry a banner near garbage and other material that

was set on fire during a May Day m arch in Paris on Sunday.

BY PAMELA CONSTABLE

IN KABUL

I

n a cramped workshop, reeking

of glue and stuffed with piles of

plastic straps and rubber soles,

half a dozen men and boys

hunched over scarred tables last

week, scraping and hammering,

stitching and gluing. By day’s end,

they would produce 70 pairs of wom-

en’s sandals, ready to send to street

bazaars at a deeply discounted price

of $8 each.

“We don’t make men’s shoes any-

more. All the men are jobless,” ex-

plained Abdul Bashir, 55, the work-

shop’s owner. He has been making

shoes his entire adult life — through a

civil war, stints of communist and

Islamist rule, a ruinous flood of cheap

Chinese footwear, and two decades of

conflict between Taliban and

U.S.-backed Afghan forces.

Now, eight months after the Tali-

ban takeover of the country, he and

other small-business owners are con-

fronting their direst crisis to date.

Sales everywhere are down drastical-

ly. The new rulers have promised

some relief, including partial forgive-

ness of back taxes and a slight reduc-

tion in the income tax. But many are

doubtful that token gestures will re-

verse their plummeting fortunes.

“Reduced taxes will not help us if

we cannot sell anything, meet the rent

or keep our workers paid,” said Bashir,

whose enterprise is one of about

120,000 small businesses in Kabul,

ranging from beauty parlors to clay-

oven makers. “We are eating all our

income,” he lamented.

But Taliban authorities are pursu-

ing more-sweeping changes. With al-

most all foreign aid, bank business

and financial transactions halted, offi-

cials say they hope to boost domestic

revenue by ending decades of corrup-

tion, modernizing government finan-

cial systems and creating confidence

among local business owners.

Najeeb Ahmadjan, an official at the

government’s Revenue and Tax Ad-

ministration, personifies this vision.

If successful, he said, their efforts

should help ease the country’s eco-

nomic crisis — and prove to Afghans

and the world that the new rulers are

both capable and committed.

“Before the Islamic Emirate came,

there was much more economic activ-

ity and international support. But

there was also a lot of corruption,”

Ahmadjan said, using the Taliban’s

name for its government. “Now, there

is much less support but much less

corruption, and much more commit-

ment from the top. Government em-

ployees feel more energy, and public

taxpayers feel more trust.”

In market stalls, workshops and

one-room offices across the capital, the

consensus seems to be that the Taliban

has good intentions but has not yet

figured out how to help small business-

es, let alone manage a large, badly

ailing economy. Some merchants ex-

pressed frustration and anger. Others

had almost given up in despair.

At a metal-roofed block of furniture

showrooms filled with beds, desks

and wardrobe chests, owner Yasin

Hamidullah said he had sold only one

piece in the past month, a large cabi-

net that he let go for $60. He had just

borrowed money to pay his monthly

rent of $150, mostly to have a safe

place to store his unsold inventory.

“When we had foreign customers,

we could hardly keep up with the de-

mand. Now they have all left and no-

body comes to buy,” Hamidullah said.

He decided not to pay his last income

tax bill of $250, expecting to get the

promised tax break, but it never came.

“I feel cheated,” he said. “I am still

paying the same tax I paid five years

ago — and we are selling nothing.”

Several miles away, in a maze of

auto parts shops with mufflers and

mirrors dangling from the ceilings,

Samir Ahady is facing a different

problem. The shelves in his store are

lined with car batteries from Japan

and Thailand. Since the Taliban raised

customs fees, he said, his cost per

battery has gone up from $90 to $100,

while his sales have cratered.

“I have noticed some positive

changes. Taxes are faster and easier to

pay,” Ahady said. “But the prices are all

higher, people have no jobs and they

can’t afford to keep their cars fixed.”

“My income is 80 percent down,

and my whole life has changed,” he

added. “No more family picnics, no

more meat with dinner, beggars ev-

erywhere. The future is totally un-

clear.”

Noor Ulhaq Omeri, who heads the

capital’s association of small business-

es and artisans, has a more patient

approach to dealing with the new

authorities. He has met repeatedly

with Taliban officials and proposed

various forms of tax relief. Most have

been turned down so far, but he still

has hope.

“For many years, the system was

bad and there was a lot of corruption.

You had to pay bribes for everything,”

said Omeri, 55. “The new authorities

do seem committed to fixing this

problem, and we are happy about

that, but they have been far away from

governing for a long time. They may

be honest, but there is a distance.

People want to cooperate, but they are

still mistrustful.”

Across the capital, in 22 neighbor-

hood tax offices, daily interactions be-

tween small-business owners and new

government officials are beginning to

bridge that gap. In Khushal Khan, a

busy mixed-income district, the tax

office director, Obaidullah Omarkhel,

has been on the job for just six weeks.

On a recent morning, Omarkhel sat

at his desk, which was empty except

for a stack of large detailed maps of

the district. Every few minutes, an-

other taxpayer entered hesitantly

with a sheaf of papers in hand.

Omarkhel reviewed the papers care-

fully, then signed and handed them

back with a few pleasantries, sending

the customer to a nearby office to pay.

“I want to be sure not to make any

mistakes,” Omarkhel said. “We want

to encourage people to pay, not to

force them.”

While acknowledging the country’s

long struggle with official corruption,

he said he reassures his customers that

things are different now. “I tell them

the past is past,” he said. “I am here

now, and this is my responsibility.”

As Afghan economy sputters, small operators reel

Under Taliban rule, sales have plummeted and promised tax breaks have been slow in coming. Many doubt they’ll see a t urnaround.

AHMAD SAHEL ARMAN/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

PAMELA CONSTABLE/THE WASHINGTON POST

PAMELA CONSTABLE/THE WASHINGTON POST

FROM TOP: Shoppers in Kabul gather at a market last month on the first day of Ramadan.

Among the thousands of small businesses trying to hang on is a workshop where shoemakers

glue soles onto s andals. BELOW: Obaidullah Omarkhel, left, the director of a neighborhood

tax office, processes a payment from Hazrat Mohammed, a local property dealer in Kabul.