The Taliban, despite widespread complaints from citizens about distributing humanitarian aid to their relatives and interfering in the aid process, persist in unfairly allocating and misusing assistance across Afghanistan. Residents of Herat Province claim that aid from organizations and relief agencies is distributed not based on need but rather to individuals close to the Taliban and their families. According to these residents, the Taliban prioritize villages with the highest number of casualties for aid distribution. Conversely, villages with many former military personnel are excluded from receiving humanitarian assistance due to the Taliban’s opposition.
Several Herat residents report that the Taliban actively interfere in the aid distribution process, instructing organizations to operate under their influence within the province. They state that organization staff, during surveys and aid distribution, follow the Taliban’s directives, including adding individuals the group recommends to recipient lists. The Taliban’s control and coercion have silenced many, while those who voice criticism face beatings, arrests, and imprisonment.
Abdul Ghani, a resident of the Koh-e-Zor district in Herat, claims that aid has not reached those truly in need. Instead, it is directed toward individuals and communities favored by local Taliban officials.
“Organizations bring aid, but poor and helpless people gain nothing from it. All the aid is given to those who do not need it,” he told the Hasht-e Subh Daily.
He added, “Organizations conduct surveys, but the Taliban dictate which villages and individuals are included or excluded from the lists. So far, all aid has been distributed to the Taliban and their families, not to impoverished people.”
Ameer (pseudonym), a resident of Shahrabad village in the Zirkuh district of Herat, reports that the Taliban have deliberately deprived his village of humanitarian aid. Due to Taliban interference, relief organizations provide only minimal assistance in his area. He explains that many residents were military personnel under the previous government, which has led the Taliban to target village elders who criticize the inequitable distribution of aid.
“In our village, aid is either not distributed or comes in tiny amounts. Meanwhile, in Bakhtabad, a village where many Taliban lived and fought, all the aid is taken and distributed,” Ameer told the Hasht-e Subh Daily.
He added, “Our village had more military personnel during the previous government, so aid is withheld. A few days ago, our village elder protested after seeing that other villages received four to five times more aid than ours. The Taliban replied that their villages had suffered more casualties, so they deserved more aid.”
Ameer emphasized that the elder told the Taliban, “You have made involvement in killing and violence the criterion for distributing aid.” In response, the Taliban assaulted and imprisoned the elder.
Similarly, residents of the Adraskan district in Herat express frustration over the inequitable aid distribution. They claim that individuals genuinely in need are often excluded from the recipient lists due to Taliban interference.
Nader, a resident of Adraskan, shared with the Hasht-e Subh Daily, “Plenty of aid arrives, but it doesn’t reach the poor and needy. Many times, aid has been delivered to our district, but it ends up with individuals who do not need it rather than those who truly deserve it.”
He added, “Aid intended for needy families is often recollected and redistributed among all village residents, including wealthy individuals.”
Meanwhile, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) confirmed that the Taliban significantly interferes in humanitarian operations. In September alone, OCHA documented 173 instances of Taliban interference, leading to the suspension of at least 83 projects.
OCHA highlighted key forms of Taliban interference, including violence against aid workers, restricted access to humanitarian resources, and limitations placed on the activities of organizations and their staff within the country.
You can read the Persian version of this daily report here:
باشندهگان هرات: کمکها به روستاهای جنگجویان کشته شده طالبان توزیع میشود
