Government security checkpoints, as well as the Taliban, are extorting truck drivers along the 91-kilometer highway from Mazar-e-Sharif city to Dara-e-Sof district in the northern province of Samangan, a group of drivers and locals claimed.

The drivers – who mostly carry coal in their trucks – said they must give money to each checkpoint along the way while they also must pay Afs4,000 ($50) to the Taliban for each truck.

In this program, host Karim Amini discusses the topic with Abdul Fatah Dadras, a political affairs analyst.