Two sources within the Taliban’s General Directorate of Intelligence informed Afghanistan International that some employees of this department have not received their salaries for three months.

According to the sources, on Thursday, the payment of the third month’s salary for these employees has also been delayed.

The sources, who wished to remain anonymous, said that for the third consecutive month, the Taliban have told some of their intelligence employees that their salaries will be paid "soon”.

The sources stated that the Taliban had promised their intelligence employees that the salaries would be paid today, Tuesday, on the eve of Eid al-Adha, however, the promise was not fulfilled.

It is unclear whether the Taliban's inability to pay its employees is limited to the intelligence department or if it extends to other security and defence agencies.

Over the past two and a half years, the salaries of some government civilian departments, including the Ministry of Public Health and the Ministry of Education, have been covered by international organisations such as the Red Cross and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

However, the International Committee of the Red Cross announced last August that it would likely end funding for 25 hospitals in Afghanistan by the end of August.

Medical staff at Mirwais Hospital in Kandahar told Afghanistan International in April this year that their salaries had been reduced by 30 percent over the past two months for unknown reasons.

Similarly, as of Thursday, June 13, the Taliban have reduced the salaries of female government employees to five thousand Afghanis.