Kunduz residents complained about the distribution of aid by the Office of Refugees and aid groups in the province. They claimed that aid has been distributed unfairly. Local Taliban officials in Kunduz, however, denied the allegations.
Ajabgol, a resident of the Kunduz’s Sherkat Garden village, told Hasht-e Subh that the survey teams that come to their villages excluded poor and deserving families. According to him, survey teams list their relatives and village elders, stressing that deserving families are excluded from the survey.
Bibi Nessa, an adult woman with tears in her eyes, said that her four sons had been killed in the battles of Kunduz, adding that more than ten of her grandchildren had been orphaned. Bibi Nessa added that they do not have bread to eat and when she knocks on the door of aid agencies, she does not receive aid. The mother asked Kunduz aid agencies to help her orphaned grandchildren survive, otherwise, they would die from the cold weather and food shortages.
Meanwhile, Haji Bai Murad, who has a disability in the limbs, also says that aid is not distributed to deserving people and no one can stop it.
Khanom Gul, another Kunduz resident, said she lives in a rented house, stressing that her head of household is unemployed. According to her, when she knocks on the door of the Kunduz Refugee Office to receive aid, no one includes her on the list. “People with links to the Taliban are on this list,” she added. She stated that she visits the refugee ward every day, but no one hears her voice. Khanom Gul called on local Taliban officials and aid agencies in the province to distribute aid to people in need and to eliminate discrimination and racism in the process of distributing aid.
Meanwhile, Abdul Wali Mohammadi, the head of the Taliban-led government’s refugees and returnees to Kunduz, denies the unfair distribution of aid in the province, saying: “Since the beginning of the Taliban regime, cash, food, and non-food aid has been distributed to more than 8,000 families in Kunduz.” According to Mohammadi, the survey teams of the Department of Refugees and partner organizations conduct careful surveys to help those in need.
In some other provinces, it has also been claimed that the Taliban exclude the poor, distributing aid for their own affiliates.
[box type=”info” align=”alignleft” class=”” width=””]Noori, Hasht-e Subh[/box]
