Pension crisis looms as Afghanistan grapples to fix public finances

FILE PHOTO: An aerial view of Kabul, Afghanistan January 1, 2017. REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail

KABUL (Reuters) - In a country not short of problems, a looming pensions crisis that could cripple Afghanistan's budget in coming years is a new headache for a government dependent on increasingly war-weary foreign donors.

Pension liabilities - set to swallow the equivalent of a third of the current $5 billion budget within 15 years unless something is done - typify accumulated problems the government is now trying to tackle.