On October 14, 2025, the Taliban’s Ministry of Justice announced that approximately 1,843 jeribs of land in Nowabad Township of Ghazni had been declared state property by a decision of a special court. The announcement has sparked deep concern among the predominantly Hazara residents of the area, amid repeated reports of forced displacement of Hazaras by the Taliban across Afghanistan.
According to the statement, the township lies in District Six of Ghazni city. The Taliban’s Commission for the Prevention of Land Grabbing had reviewed the case and referred it to the central zone’s special court. After what the Taliban described as an examination of documents and the “confessions” of residents, the regime’s court ruled that the 1,843 jeribs (roughly 370 hectares) belonged to the “Emirate.”
The court’s ruling has ignited fears that the Taliban will evict Hazara residents from their homes as part of a broader policy of forced displacement and demographic engineering.
Background and developments in Nowabad Township
Nowabad Township was established in the early 1990s when Hazara families purchased land from villagers on the northern outskirts of Ghazni city. Most buyers came from Nawar, Malistan, Jaghori, Qarabagh, and what is now Daikundi province. Over time, these families built homes in a growing Hazara community.
According to local estimates, around 12,000 Hazara families currently live in Nowabad Township. Shahab Paik, a community representative, wrote on Facebook that the current dispute between the Taliban and residents of the township began roughly two and a half years ago. In particular, he accused the Taliban’s provincial commission of deliberately creating obstacles for the residents’ ownership of the land.
While the Ministry of Justice claims the land was declared state property based partly on the “confessions” of its occupants, local representatives strongly reject this. Paik states:
“The new court ruling was explicitly rejected by community representatives in the presence of the judge, the mufti, and the clerk, with reasoned objections.”
Assessing the legitimacy of the Taliban’s claim
Local witnesses say that there have been past disputes among residents over boundaries, yet these were resolved by previous authorities and no one questioned the private ownership of the land by the Hazara living there.
Legal expert Zamin Ali Habibi explains the legal underpinnings of that ownership:
“Under Afghanistan’s Land Management Law and Islamic jurisprudence, land falls into four categories: state land, public land, private land, and waqf (endowment) land.”
Based on the land’s history, Habibi argues that Nowabad’s land clearly falls under the category of private property, historically considered part of the surrounding villages’ territory. He cites Article 1271 of Majalla al-Ahkam al-Adliyya — the Ottoman civil code still referenced in Afghan legal tradition — which grants residents of adjacent villages the right to use such land for housing or agriculture.
Habibi adds that more than three decades of continuous, open possession by Nowabad residents establishes both customary and religious ownership rights. And that makes them legitimate holders (dhawi al-yad). Without any credible legal or religious evidence that the land belongs to the state, it cannot be classified as government property.
Shahab Paik, the community representative, further notes that documents from 1992, 1993, and 2016 confirm Nowabad’s land is not state-owned. He says previous governments dispatched technical delegations to review the matter and verified the residents’ private ownership. He argues that the Taliban’s provincial commission, Ministry of Justice, and special cour have ignored these records.
The Taliban’s statement provides no substantive evidence for its claim, only vague references to a “review of documents,” “information from relevant authorities,” and “confessions of occupants.” Community representatives insist no such confessions were ever made, and their records directly contradict the Taliban’s assertions.
A university professor in Ghazni, speaking anonymously for security reasons, explained:
“The Taliban have not produced any conclusive legal or documentary evidence proving that this land is state property. Their claim lacks validity because the court’s reasoning rests on a misinterpretation of sultani or dead land (arazi-e-mowat).”
The broader political motives behind the declaration
The Taliban’s declaration that Nowabad Township is state property appears to be a political façade that conceals deeper motives.
Over the past four years, the Taliban have demonstrated a consistent pattern of dismissing or ignoring any obstacles to its consolidation of power. They have dissolved the constitution and parliament, stripped the judiciary of its independence, dismissed professional civil servants, and replaced them with loyalists. Through these actions, the group has imposed its ideological and political agenda on the Afghan people under the guise of a “state” that lacks domestic and international legitimacy. In particular, the Taliban have targeted ethnic and religious minorities.
Human Rights Watch has documented multiple instances of the Taliban forcibly displacing Shia and Hazara communities, including in Helmand, Balkh, Daikundi, and Uruzgan provinces. Such actions serve several purposes: altering Afghanistan’s demographic composition, extorting money and resources, and punishing targeted groups.
In some cases, the Taliban merely issue warnings to vacate; residents comply out of fear, aware that resistance often leads to harsher punishment.
What lies ahead for Nowabad’s residents
For the Hazara residents of Nowabad Township, three possible outcomes seem likely:
- Forced Eviction: If the international community, political parties, civil society, and media remain silent, the Taliban may forcibly seize the township.
- Forced Repurchase: Residents may be coerced into repurchasing their own properties or paying again for land they already own.
- Annual Extortion: The Taliban may impose annual “fees” or tributes disguised as rent.
In every scenario, Nowabad’s Hazara residents — already among the most vulnerable and historically persecuted communities in Afghanistan — face renewed dispossession. Once again, those who have struggled to build lives and homes in Nowabad risk becoming victims of exploitation by those who control the levers of state power.
Sharif Ghazniwal is the pseudonym of a former university professor in Kabul and a writer.
