Title page
Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 2
ABSTRACT 5
INTRODUCTION 6
CHECKPOINT TAXATION: A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 7
CHECKPOINTS AND INFORMAL TAXATION IN AFGHANISTAN, A HISTORICAL OVERVIEW 10
MAPPING CHECKPOINT TAXATION 14
Police illegal tolls 19
Protection fees: the border business for security companies 22
Bureaucrats and exploitation of checkpoint taxation 25
Taliban extortions and the collapse of the Republic 28
Taliban 2.0: dismantling checkpoints and shifts to formal taxation 30
CONCLUSION 32
REFERENCES 33
Table 1. Collection of revenue by customs houses 17
Table 2. Afghanistan official border crossing points (BCPs) 18
Table 3. Number of police checkpoints in provinces 21
Figure 1. Map of Afghanistan's inland customs depots and customs border crossings 15
Figure 2. Map of Afghanistan's inland customs depots, border crossing points and customs checkpoints 16
Figure 3. Value of Afghanistan trade at official border crossing points 18
Figure 4. Police checkpoint in Tang-e-Farkhar, Takhar Province 19
Figure 5. Map of police checkpoints and illegal tolls in Afghanistan 20
Figure 6. Trucking business in Afghanistan 23
Figure 7. Security truck equipped with a .50 calibre anti-aircraft DSHK machine gun 24
Figure 8. Distribution of checkpoints under the Repulic and the Taliban 2.0 30