Critics: When People Have No Bread, the Governor of Balkh Builds a Mosque Named After Mullah Omar.
A mosque named after Mullah Omar, the founder of the Taliban, is being constructed at the Shaheedan Hairatan crossroads, precisely at a time when the people of Balkh are struggling with poverty and hunger.
Haji Zaid, the spokesperson for the Taliban governor of Balkh, stated that during the tenure of Haji Yousuf Wafa, the governor of the province, a total of 30 mosques were either built or renovated.
According to him, 20 of these mosques were completely constructed from scratch, and 10 others were restored, revealing the real priorities of the Taliban.
The spokesperson also confirmed that the mosque named after Mullah Omar is approximately 65 percent physically completed.
Haji Zaid referred to Mullah Omar as the “idol breaker,” a title dating back to March 11, 2001, when the Taliban destroyed the famous Buddhas of Bamiyan.
This act was one of the most controversial examples of deliberate destruction of Afghanistan’s cultural heritage, shocking the world.
Critics say that instead of addressing the widespread economic crisis, unemployment, and hunger in Balkh, the Taliban are spending resources on costly mosques and ideological naming projects.
These projects serve more to legitimize violence and reproduce extremist ideology than to meet the needs of the people.
While thousands of families struggle to put food on the table, the Taliban build grand mosques and celebrate figures who devastated modern history, starkly exposing the gap between their governance and the harsh realities of the population.
