Taliban destroy 400 houses in Pul-i- Khumri, claiming they are in a green area
By Najia Rahimi
The Taliban destroyed more than 400 houses in the past two weeks in Pul-i-Khumri, the capital of the northern Baghlan province.
Residents say that the Taliban municipality gave no advance notice of their destruction, instead claiming that the homes were pulled down because they are located in a designated green area.
A resident whose house was destroyed is Nasir Ahmad, who has lived in the Shahrnau area of the city for decades. “In the past 30 years, no one said that your house is in the green area. The Taliban came and destroyed my house and gave me a loss of more than 600,000 afghanis. Where can I get this money in this bad economic situation?” Ahmad tells Zan Times.
The sudden forcible eviction of so many residents isn’t isolated to Baghlan province. A week ago, reports surfaced that the Taliban had forcefully displaced people living in historic caves around the Buddhas of Bamyan.
Now, the evicted residents of Pul-i-Khumri worry about how they will survive the coming winter without homes, especially given many are already suffering from unemployment and poverty.
Frishta, a mother of three children, tells Zan Times, “We struggled for years and saved money to build a room and a kitchen, but a few days ago, the municipal squatter came and destroyed our house.” She worries about her family’s future, saying, “My efforts of many years went to waste, and we still don’t have a place to live. I am so sad that I can’t sleep at night.”
Farid, a shopkeeper in the Shashsadkoti area, says, “I had built a grocery store under my house. Being the sole breadwinner of my family, that is how I made a living. But I lost both the house and the shop.”
“I begged the municipal officials not to destroy my shop, but they didn’t care. They destroyed both, and I am worried about how to find a bite for my children to eat,” he adds.
The Taliban mayor of Pul-i-Khumri insists its demolition plans are necessary. “Based on the order of Amirul Momineen [the Taliban title for their supreme leader Mullah Hibatullah], we will demolish houses that do not comply with the urban master plan and are built in green areas,” says Mawlawi Mohammad Anwar Mustaqim to journalists. He adds the demolitions will continue in six districts of Pul-e-Khumri, such as Shashsadkoti, Shahrnau, and Agriculture Road.
Residents question the Taliban motives. “The biggest problem of Pul-i-Khumri is not the lack of green spaces,” says a resident in the Shashsadkoti area who asked not to be identified. “We don’t have electricity; we don’t have enough water; we don’t even have food to eat. The Taliban should solve these problems first, then worry about green space.”
