iPhones to currency exchange: Some biz making money out of Taliban rule

Yunis Safi, a businessman in Kabul, knows very well the importance of showing off your phone if you want something done.

-  RIAZAT BUTT

"In Afghanistan, your phone is your personality," he said, smiling, a jewelencrusted ring on each hand. One boasts an emerald, the other a fat Russian diamond. "When you go to a meeting with the government, the better your phone, the more they respect you." Safi runs a phone shop in the posh Shar-eNaw neighborhood. An armed guard stands outside. The iPhone 15 Pro Max adorns the shop shelves, retailing for $1,400. He has customers ready to part with this sum of money, which may come as a surprise to some given the country's economic woes and over half the population relying on humanitarian aid.

Afghanistan's finances were on shaky ground oven before the Talibancoized The takeover sent Afghanistan's economy into a tailspin, billions in international funds were frozen, and tens of thousands of highly skilled Afghans fled the country and took their money with them.