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Recent Posts

  • Videos of Empty Mansions in Afghanistan Prompt Calls for Accountability March 23, 2023
  • Nawroz Under the Taliban Rule March 22, 2023
  • Tolo News in Dari – March 22, 2023 March 22, 2023
  • Hidayatullah Badri Appointed as Afghanistan Central Bank Governor March 22, 2023
  • UK Begins Probe into Claims of Unlawful Killings by its Troops in Afghanistan March 22, 2023
  • Two people, including a Taliban fighter, were killed by unknown people in Faryab March 22, 2023
  • Pakistan will harm if it imposes further punishment on Imran Khan, former US envoy warns March 22, 2023
  • Strong Earthquake Rattles Pakistan, Afghanistan March 22, 2023
  • Picking Up The Pieces March 22, 2023
  • Afghanistan: the national women’s football team that isn’t March 21, 2023

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Videos of Empty Mansions in Afghanistan Prompt Calls for Accountability

23rd March, 2023 · admin · Leave a comment

Akmal Dawi
VOA News
March 22, 2023

In a mansion in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif that was recently profiled on YouTube, all the windows and doors are bulletproof — a testament to the former residents’ security fears in a country where tens of thousands of people were killed each year in a war that took almost two decades to end.

In other videos, properties are shown having private jails, helipads, gardens with exotic plants, gyms, sauna and steam rooms, pools and other amenities that defy the description of Afghanistan as one of the world’s poorest countries, where most of the population cannot afford food.

Now vacant, these mini palaces belong to former warlords, government officials and lawmakers who fled the country before or immediately after the Taliban seized power in August 2021.

Despite their long-standing animosity toward the owners of these mansions, de facto Taliban authorities have not confiscated them so far, calling them private properties. Most are even protected against ransack and plunder, practices often seen during the many regime changes Afghanistan has experienced over the past few decades.

While the former Afghan elites are scattered around the world, most of them have regularly spoken against the Taliban, and some have even sought foreign assistance to wage another war against the so-called Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

The United States, which fought the Taliban for two decades, has said it does not support armed opposition against the Taliban, but has also repeatedly demanded the formation of an inclusive government in Afghanistan.

Symbols of corruption

Videos of the mansions posted on YouTube and other social platforms receive large viewership and generate passionate comments about corruption and abuse in the upper ranks of the former Afghan government.

“These places were built with corruption. … These mansions were built by the money [stolen] from the poor,” YouTube blogger Hamayon Afghan, who has produced videos from different parts of Afghanistan before and after the Taliban’s return to power, told VOA from Kabul.

For about 20 years, the United States and European donors invested heavily in building a democratic government, the rule of law and public accountability in Afghanistan, but the efforts largely failed because of endemic corruption.

Investigations by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) “identified corruption at virtually every level of the Afghan state — from salaries paid by international donors for Afghan soldiers and police who do not really exist to theft of U.S.-military-provided fuel on a massive scale.”

Of the $146.68 billion the United States appropriated for the reconstruction of Afghanistan between 2002 and 2022, SIGAR reviewed the spending of $63 billion and discovered that a staggering $19 billion, 30%, was lost to waste, fraud and abuse, a spokesperson told VOA.

Other independent organizations have made similar assessments.

“Corruption was central to the failure of the international effort to establish peace and security in Afghanistan,” Ilham Mohamed, a regional adviser at corruption watchdog Transparency International, told VOA.

“It undermined the legitimacy and capability of the Afghan government, hollowed out the Afghan military, and channeled resources to and strengthened popular support for the Taliban,” Mohamed said.

Accountability

Speaking to a VOA television host, Atta Mohammad Noor, a former governor of Balkh province whose lavish lifestyle has been reported in the media, accused the Taliban of using several of his properties for various military and administrative purposes.

“Only my residence has been vacated,” Noor told the host via video link from the United Arab Emirates, adding that he would not return to Afghanistan to claim his properties.

The Taliban claim they have offered a blanket amnesty to all their former enemies, but the U.N. said some former Afghan military personnel have been killed, detained or tortured by Taliban gunmen over the past 18 months.

Taliban authorities have also indicated they would not prosecute former Afghan officials on charges of past corruption and abuse unless there are individual complainants seeking reparation and justice.

There is no anti-corruption entity in the Taliban’s interim administration, and it is unclear how the group investigates and handles corruption within its own ranks.

In the comments posted under the videos showing the houses of the former officials, many called for some sort of accountability.

“Eight out of 10 Afghans we speak to demand accountability from previous officials and leaders,” YouTuber Afghan said.

It is unclear if the former elites can sell their real estate in Afghanistan and take the funds abroad.

For some owners, potential risks from the Taliban outweigh the financial attraction of their properties.

“I call on the Taliban to identify all my properties and either sell them or destroy them by bombs and mines. They do not have the value of the wing of a fly or a mosquito for me,” Noor said.

When the VOA host asked him about his collection of expensive watches, Noor smiled and said, “I have taken them with me.”

Posted in Corruption, Economic News | Tags: Atta Mohammad Noor |

Nawroz Under the Taliban Rule

22nd March, 2023 · admin · Leave a comment

8am: The Taliban are strongly opposed to the celebration of Nawroz, yet people still travel to commemorate the return of nature in the spring. As Nawroz is no longer an official holiday and has been removed from the calendar, government workers must be prepared to go to work on the first day of the new year. Imams of mosques in towns, villages, religious institutions, and schools who are ideologically linked to the Taliban oppose the Nawroz festival and forbid it, threatening to punish those who celebrate it and accusing them of blasphemy and atheism. Click here to read more (external link).

Posted in Society, Taliban | Tags: Ban on Nowroz, Life under Taliban rule, Nawroz |

Tolo News in Dari – March 22, 2023

22nd March, 2023 · admin · Leave a comment

Posted in News in Dari (Persian/Farsi) |

Hidayatullah Badri Appointed as Afghanistan Central Bank Governor

22nd March, 2023 · admin · Leave a comment

Badri

Khaama: The former acting finance minister, Mullah Hidayatullah Badri, has been appointed as the governor of the Afghanistan Central Bank, the spokesperson of the finance ministry said on Wednesday. Finance Ministry spokesman Ahmad Wali Haqmal told Reuters that Mr. Badri has already occupied his new role as the Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB) governor. Prior to this, Badir served as the finance minister of the Taliban-run administration since the group’s return to power in August 2021. Since the takeover of Kabul, the Taliban has continuously dismissed former government employees and replaced them with their own members, most of whom have studied at religious schools and madrasas. Click here to read more (external link).

Posted in Economic News, Political News | Tags: Da Afghanistan Bank, Mullah Hidayatullah Badri |

UK Begins Probe into Claims of Unlawful Killings by its Troops in Afghanistan

22nd March, 2023 · admin · Leave a comment

Khaama: The investigation into claims of unlawful killing by UK soldiers is about to get underway. As the investigation begins on Wednesday, Lord Justice Haddon-Cave, the chair of the inquiry, is anticipated to request documentation of criminal activities in the war-torn country between 2010 and 2013. During his opening remarks, Cave is anticipated to call anyone with pertinent information to come forward. During a six-month deployment to the southern Afghan province of Helmand from November 2010 to May 2011, one SAS unit shot and killed 54 civilians in suspicious circumstances, according to the BBC’s Panorama program investigation. Click here to read more (external link).

Posted in Britain-Afghanistan Relations, Civilian Injuries and Deaths, Crime and Punishment, Human Rights | Tags: War Crime |

Two people, including a Taliban fighter, were killed by unknown people in Faryab

22nd March, 2023 · admin · Leave a comment

8am: Local sources in Faryab say that unknown gunmen have killed two people, including a Taliban fighter, in this province. It is said that this Taliban fighter had gone to the Arab-Aqsa area of ​​Pashtunkot district for fun with a teenager who was a student at a religious school. Click here to read more (external link).

Posted in Security, Taliban | Tags: Attacks on Taliban, Faryab |

Pakistan will harm if it imposes further punishment on Imran Khan, former US envoy warns

22nd March, 2023 · admin · Leave a comment

Khalilzad

Khaama: In a series of tweets, Khalilzad noted, “There are indications that Pakistan’s parliament, which is controlled by the governing coalition, might ask the Supreme Court to disqualify Imran Khan from running for election and even prohibit PTI in the next few days.” Khalilzad said, “The government appears to have decided to set up Imran Khan as enemy number one of the State. Such steps will only deepen Pakistan’s political, economic, and security crises. Already, some countries have suspended planned investments”, he said. He further warned Pakistani politicians that amid political chaos, political polarization, and violence, intends to punish PTI may worsen the current situation in the country. Click here to read more (external link).

Posted in Pakistan-Afghanistan Relations, US-Afghanistan Relations | Tags: Imran Khan, Zalmay Khalilzad |

Strong Earthquake Rattles Pakistan, Afghanistan

22nd March, 2023 · admin · Leave a comment

AP: A magnitude 6.5 earthquake rattled much of Pakistan and Afghanistan on March 21, killing at least two people and sending panicked residents fleeing from homes and offices. More than 100 people were brought to hospitals in the Swat valley region of Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province in a state of shock, Bilal Faizi, a spokesman for Pakistan’s emergency services told the Associated Press. Click here to read more (external link).

Related

  • At least 9 Killed As Strong Earthquake Rattles Pakistan, Afghanistan

Updates

  • The Earthquake Casualties in Takhar: One Person is Killed And Four Others Injured
  • 4 Afghans Killed, Around 80 Wounded in Earthquake on Tuesday
  • Taliban: More than 50 people were killed and injured in the recent earthquake in Afghanistan
Posted in Environmental News | Tags: Earthquake, Natural Disasters |

Picking Up The Pieces

22nd March, 2023 · admin · Leave a comment

Destroyed Buddha Statue

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: The recent past has not been kind to Afghanistan’s pre-Islamic heritage. Will history repeat itself under the new Taliban government? Just months before the Taliban was ousted from power in 2001, the hard-line Islamist group took a wrecking ball to Afghanistan’s pre-Islamic history. That spring, the Bamiyan Buddhas that had stood tall for more than 1,400 years were reduced to rubble over the course of a few weeks after Taliban fighters blasted them with artillery before finishing them off with dynamite. Click here to read more (external link).

Posted in Art and Culture, History, Taliban |

Afghanistan: the national women’s football team that isn’t

21st March, 2023 · admin · Leave a comment

DW: Afghanistan’s former internationals continue to play football together — in Australian exile. The sport’s global goverining body, FIFA, has so far denied them recognition as the Afghan national team. The team is “like a second family in a strange country,” defender Fatima Mursal Sadat tells DW. Click here to read more (external link).

Posted in Afghan Sports News, Afghan Women | Tags: Life under Taliban rule, Women's football |
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