30% Bookstores In Afghanistan Shut Due To Lack Of Good Market: Report

The commission to assess the problems of booksellers has revealed that 30 per cent of booksellers in Afghanistan have stopped their business due to a lack of a good market, Afghanistan-based Tolo News reported.

Speaking to Tolo News, Abdul Wodod Mukhtarzada, a member of the commission, said that the booksellers have also complained about high taxes which are difficult to pay as their business has witnessed a decline.

Mukhtarzada said, "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." Several booksellers expressed concern that book reading culture has faded in Afghanistan.

Sharifullah, a bookseller said, "There are issues because of the lack of female students' presence in the universities. This issue also affects the book business."

Mansour Qazizada, a bookseller, stressed that the market is down and people lack the capacity to buy. He also spoke about various taxes that the booksellers need to pay.

Qazizada said, "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."

Meanwhile, the Taliban-led Ministry of Information and Culture said that efforts were being made to pardon the taxes of the libraries to support the book markets in Afghanistan, according to the report.

Mahajar Farahi, deputy minister of Taliban-led Information and Culture for publications, said, "We are trying to waive taxes on books and thus we can implement a tradition of book reading. We have held various exhibitions."

Earlier this week, a group of young people in Kabul organised the "Smart Way" book display to strengthen the reading culture in Afghanistan according to Tolo News report.

By implementing such initiatives, young people claimed they want to inspire residents, particularly other young people, to read literature, as the Taliban has already put strict restrictions on the education of young girls and women in Afghanistan.

"We held it to create a culture for the youth of our society to read books, books are entertainment for them," an organizer, Sharifa Hesar said, according to Tolo News.

"The purpose of holding this exhibition is to strengthen the culture of reading among young people," said Farhad Malik Zada, an organizer.

Speaking to Tolo News, several expo attendees said that the reasons why people don't study enough are related to the economy, a lack of employment opportunities, and a high usage of social media. Visitors, however, claimed that organising such displays was successful in promoting reading culture.

The stagnation of the book-selling business over the past two years has alarmed booksellers in Kabul and the surrounding regions of Afghanistan, who have regularly expressed their concern, according to Tolo News.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)