Findings by the Hasht-e Subh Daily reveal that Nasir Ahmad Ahmadi, the commander of Taliban Security District 11 in Kabul, dismantled and sold several old Soviet-era armored vehicles and equipment approximately two years ago in Zone 315 and the Baba Jan Garrison. According to the findings, Ahmadi scrapped six tanks from these sites, reducing them to scrap metal before selling them. The report also indicates that he had the scrap metal weighed at various locations. In addition, since he was appointed district commander, Ahmadi has married three more times and has secured separate houses in Kabul for each of his four wives.
The report further indicates that Ahmadi initially collected the equipment and moved it to a designated location. He then transferred it at night to a secure site within the district to avoid detection by personnel. Over the course of two nights, he used an electric saw to dismantle all six tanks before selling them as scrap.
The report reviewed weight receipts for the scrap metal issued by the purchasing companies, along with documents related to fees owed to the Taliban’s Ministry of Public Works. These records show that thousands of kilograms of scrap metal were sold for approximately $50,000.
The handwritten and computer-generated receipts show that a single document records the weights as 9,000 kilograms, 800 kilograms, 7,219 kilograms, and 6,900 kilograms, respectively.
The Taliban’s Ministry of Public Works representative office in Shakardara District, which registered these weights, was also examined in the report. Documents show that the trucks transporting the scrap metal to the district received entry clearance on June 17, 2024, at 10:14:23, under invoice number 37186.
The report’s findings also reveal that two other individuals, in addition to the District 11 commander, were involved in the sale of the tanks. The first is a man known as Hafiz, former head of Zone 4 and current security chief at a branch of Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB), the country’s central bank. The second is a man known as Moallem, the former security commander of District 11 and current security director of District 7.
Sources say that at least $50,000 was paid for the scrap metal from the tanks, though the full amount remains unknown. According to sources, it is likely that considerably larger sums were exchanged in the transaction.
The sale of these tanks for scrap prices by Taliban officials continues, even as the tanks are regarded as part of Afghanistan’s history. Citizens say the vehicles should eventually be placed in museums, not melted down for scrap.
Who Is Nasir Ahmadi and What Has He Done?
Nasir Ahmad Ahmadi is the commander of Taliban Security District 11 in Kabul. He is originally from Musa Qala District in Kabul Province and is the brother of Abdul Manan Ahmad, a Taliban commander who was killed in the past.
Sources say Ahmadi was appointed to his current position on the orders of Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Taliban’s Minister of Interior. According to sources, he presents himself as a close associate of Haqqani and exploits that connection to engage in extortion. Sources also confirm that he has married three additional times since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan and currently has four wives.
Sources add that his first marriage predates the Taliban’s takeover, while the three subsequent marriages took place after he was appointed district commander. His first wife is from Musa Qala District in Kabul Province. His second wife is from the Tangi Waghjan area of Logar Province.
Sources say that Ahmadi’s second wife was widowed before marrying him. Ahmadi has since secured a house for her in the former Taimani area of Kabul.
Sources also say that her father served as a security forces officer under the previous government and was killed fighting the Taliban in one of the northern provinces.
Her brother, named Tamim, officially serves in District 11. According to sources, he has a reputation for theft and extortion and rarely reports for duty.
Ahmadi’s third wife is from Badakhshan Province. She is the daughter of a colonel who served in the Ministry of Defense under the previous government. Like the others, she lives separately from his other wives, and Ahmadi has secured a house for her in the Lycée Maryam area, near the Gold Market.
Sources say Ahmadi’s fourth and most recent wife is from Panjshir Province. He has secured a house for her near the district headquarters, on the street locally known as the “Younus Qanuni House.”
The Hasht-e Subh Daily previously reported that Ahmadi had also sold a vehicle taken from the United States Embassy during the fall of the previous government. He sold a Hilux pickup truck after repainting it. Sources say he initially valued the vehicle at $7,500, then traded it for two other vehicles, selling one and placing the other up for sale.
Multiple previous reports have documented Taliban sales of weapons and military equipment left behind by the United States in Afghanistan. According to those reports, in the early years of their rule, the Taliban sold or illegally smuggled more than 500,000 weapons of various types to terrorist groups. The United Nations (UN) has also stated that some of those weapons reached groups linked to Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.
The Hasht-e Subh Daily had also previously reported that residents of Parwan Province observed Taliban fighters removing tanks and armored vehicles left behind by the Soviet Red Army from Pushta-e Surkh in Jabal al-Saraj District and transporting them to an unknown location. Sources told the paper at the time that the Taliban were carrying out these removals intermittently at night using cargo trucks. According to sources, the Taliban used the pretext of repairs to transfer the vehicles to Kabul, where they were subsequently sold.
This comes roughly two decades after the Ministry of Information and Culture of the previous government designated Pushta-e Surkh in Jabal al-Saraj District, home to hundreds of Soviet-era military vehicles, as the National Museum of Jihad and Resistance of the People of Afghanistan.
You can read the Persian version of this report here:
فروش تانکهای زرهی؛ آمر حوزه یازدهم طالبان پول چهار بار ازدواجش را از کجا آورد؟
