Following the dismissal of hundreds of government employees, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (MoLSA) on Saturday said the process is against all principles and suggested the plan should be halted.

Earlier this week, Wolesi Jirga Speaker Mir Rahman Rahmani called on the Afghan government to swiftly stop the process of drastically eliminating jobs or changing government institutions, which will increase unemployment in the country.

Rahmani raised grave apprehensions over the status of jobs in the country, saying a further increase in unemployment could lead the country to recession.

In a surprise move earlier this week, the government fired over 90 percent of employees from the 300-bed hospital.

“In order to bring improvement and ensure professionalism, the Ministry of Labors and Social Affairs has started reforms from the center. The reform policy will also include the second category units in the near future and based on the needs,” said Ashraf Haqshenas, a spokesman to the labor ministry.

“The people are tired of this situation,” said Abdul Wahid Saboori, a Kabul resident. 

“They are firing people from other posts instead of filling the vacancies. The people are joining the Taliban because of poverty and unemployment,” said Farida Qasemi, a Kabul resident.

Activists said the president had promised to create thousands of jobs, but now he is damaging the job market. 

“International labor law does not allow anyone to fire someone who has the responsibility to feed his family and pay house rent, gas and electricity bills,” said Maroof Qaderi, head of the labor union.

The Presidential Palace declined to comment on the matter. 

“To a large extent, this plan has been carried out based on nepotism. No mechanism was defined to implement the process in a way that was suggested in the resolutions,” said Ghulam Mustafa Harooni, head of legislation department of MoLSA.

This comes as the Independent Administrative Reform and Civil Service Commission said last week that there are about 12,000 "ghost employees" in the government institutions.