Systematic Land Seizures in Badakhshan Involving Senior Taliban Officials.
According to credible local sources, several senior Taliban officials in Badakhshan have seized hundreds of acres of land belonging to residents of Shahr-e Buzurg district and contracted these lands to Chinese companies as well as groups from Kandahar and Helmand. The sources say the land transfers occurred without consultation with owners and without following legal procedures.
The sources name Qari Fasihuddin, Chief of Staff of the Taliban Army; Mawlawi Amanuddin Mansour, Taliban Governor of Helmand; Mullah Hafiz, Governor of Farah; Azizullah Haqyar, Commander of the 219th Corps; Mawlawi Mahboobullah, Deputy Governor of Ghor; and Shafiqullah Hafizi, Taliban’s Director of Mines in Badakhshan, as key figures involved in land grabbing and illegal extraction of gold. Local accounts suggest these officials have earned significant sums from unregulated mining, while public complaints are rarely addressed, and even rulings by the Taliban’s Ulema Council to return lands have gone unenforced.
Residents say the seized lands have been handed over to external companies and groups for gold extraction, leaving locals with no role except labor work. They warn that the continuous operation of thousands of excavators and heavy trucks in Shahr-e Buzurg will exhaust natural resources within a few years and may render parts of the district uninhabitable due to environmental degradation.
