Afghan government spends 1.5 billion Afghanis on trips by its officials and employees, authorities said.
Shamroz Khan Masjidi, a spokesman for Finance Ministry, said that the annual amount includes both domestic and foreign travels.
He said that the figure does not include travels which are funded by foreign governments and institutions.
The Integrity Watch, an anti-corruption watchdog, admitted that foreign official trips are needed, but claimed that many of the trips are arranged based on personal preference.
According to the watchdog, high-level officials book expensive hotels and air tickets.
Naser Temori, a member of Integrity Watch, said that most of the senior government officials book business class air tickets and expensive hotels and waste public money.
Frequent travels to abroad by government officials also hamper service delivery.
“Most of the times our requests are not processed because officials are not available and this is a major problem faced by citizens,” said a Kabul resident.
Some civil society activists said that in most cases, senior government officials undertake trips instead of professional employees.
“People want service from the government and that authorities carry out their duties properly,” said Naeem Nazari, a civil society activist. “Political individuals should not replace professionals in official trips.”
Earlier, documents obtained by 1TV showed that the acting minister of energy and water travelled abroad as many as 10 times in just six months.
