Afghanistan: 30 percent of booksellers have shut down their business

Abdul Wodod Mukhtarzada, a member of the commission to assess the Problems of Booksellers, told TOLOnews that the booksellers are also complaining about high taxes which are difficult to pay as their business has dropped.

“We used to sell more than 500 books and we had 200 librarians here but I can say now that their number has dropped significantly,” he said.

A bookseller even blamed the absence of female students in universities as a cause behind the decline of book sells in the country.

“There are issues because of the lack of female students' presence in the universities. This issue also affects the book business,” Sharifullah, a bookseller, told Tolo News.

Mansour Qazizada, a bookseller, told the news portal: "You know that the market is down and the people lack the capacity to purchase books. Also there are many types of taxes and the Kabul municipality sends their representatives."

Taliban government's reaction:

The Taliban-run Ministry of Information and Culture said that efforts are underway to pardon the taxes of the libraries as a move to support the book markets in the country.

“We are trying to waive taxes on books and thus we can implement a tradition of book reading. We have held various exhibitions,” Mahajar Farahi, deputy minister of Information and Culture for publications, told Tolo News.