Several residents of Omid-e Sabz Township in western Kabul say that several Taliban members have seized the township’s office and are extorting residents. According to the residents, in recent days Taliban members have ordered the occupants of apartments, residential units, and commercial areas to hand over their security guard fees to them, so that they can pay the guards’ salaries themselves.
Residents of Omid-e Sabz Township add that the Taliban members are seeking to extort money and create a source of income for themselves. According to them, each residential unit previously paid 500 Afghanis a month for guard services and block cleaning, and this money was handed directly to the guard. But now the Taliban members have raised this amount to 1,000 Afghanis a month and are keeping the surplus for themselves.
The residents also stress that Taliban members have raised the guard fee for each shop from 200 to 500 Afghanis. This comes even though the guards were hired by the residents themselves to protect their personal property and have no connection with institutions under Taliban control.
Hajji Ahmad (pseudonym), a resident of Omid-e Sabz Township, told the Hasht-e Subh Daily that appointing a guard and a cleaner is a matter for the residents of each block alone, and that they can hire a trusted, reliable person for an agreed fee. “I do not know why I should pay this money to a company so that it can act as an intermediary between me and the guard who protects my home,” he asked. He went on to stress that Taliban members have taken this step to earn personal income and extort people.
The resident added: “There are 32 residential units in our block, and each unit pays 500 Afghanis a month for guard services and cleaning, which we hand directly to the guard. But now the company has sent us a bill under which each unit must pay 1,000 Afghanis a month, and the guard’s salary will also be paid through the company.”
Meanwhile, another resident of Omid-e Sabz Township complained about the increase in guard fees for the township’s shops and commercial areas. He said: “I own five shops, and several other shops are located near our blocks. We, the property owners, hired a guard and pay him 200 Afghanis a month for each shop directly. But now a payment form has arrived, under which we must pay 500 Afghanis per shop to the company. This is nothing but extortion and bullying.”
In addition, residents of Omid-e Sabz Township stress that Taliban members have also doubled the fees for sewage, sanitation and greenery. According to the residents, these fee increases have come even though no practical work is being done to clean the roads, collect garbage, or create or maintain green spaces. They add that although these services are absent, more money is being demanded from residents under these headings, and they believe the extra money is going into the pockets of Taliban members.
It should be noted that these measures come as Omid-e Sabz Township has faced mounting pressure from the Taliban for months. The group’s Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has declared the township’s land to be “Emirate” property and has obliged residents to pay rent for their own homes. According to reports, the Taliban have set the rent at 4,000 Afghanis a month for each room, and the process of reviewing and distributing rent forms to residents of privately owned homes is still under way.
Numerous reports have also been published of the sealing of vacant houses, the detention of representatives of protesting residents, and even armed Taliban members entering the homes of the township’s residents.
Residents of Omid-e Sabz Township say that the seizure of the township office, the takeover of the guard fee collection process, and the increase in service fees without providing the necessary services are part of the pressure and extortion directed at the township’s residents. They believe these measures aim to pressure people into forced displacement and to make them vacate their private properties, which they bought with their own money and built shelter on.
You can read the Persian version of this report here:
از تصاحب دفتر تا دو برابرشدن هزینهها؛ فشار طالبان بر ساکنان شهرک امید سبز
