Taliban confiscate $ 6.5 million from the home of the former vice president international | News

The Taliban announced on Monday that they had confiscated $ 6.5 million and several gold bars at the residence of former Afghan Vice President Amrullah Saleh in the northern province of Panjshir, from where he led the resistance in the region. , captured by Islamists almost a week ago.

Taliban troops “found this large amount of money and gold bars yesterday when they searched Amrullah Saleh’s residence in Panjshir province,” he told Efe the member of the Taliban Culture Commission Mashal Afghan.

The money and gold were handed over to Taliban commander Mansour Agha, who leads Taliban forces in this area of ​​Panjshir, where Saleh has a home, he said.

In a short video released by the Taliban, the fighters can be seen counting several suitcases full of banknotes and gold pieces in a room, where they then announce that they will give this money to their superiors so as not to betray the “martyrs”.

So far neither Saleh nor anyone in his circle has defended himself against the allegations.

Corruption of officials and misuse of state assets was one of the main criticisms made of the deposed Government of Afghanistan by the international community and Afghans.

Despite the efforts announced by ousted President Ashraf Ghani, and his predecessor Hamid Karzai, the Afghan state failed to contain the corruption that weighed on the system.

Saleh served as Ghani’s first vice president for the past year and a half, and before that he headed Afghanistan’s main intelligence agency, the National Security Directorate (NDS).

Amrullah Saleh had fled to Panjshir province after the collapse of Ghani’s government and his flight from the country on August 15, coinciding with the fall of Kabul to the Taliban.

Saleh immediately joined the National Resistance Front against the Taliban under the leadership of Ahmad Massoud, son of the legendary Afghan commander Ahmad Shah Massoud.

Panjshir resistance forces faced the Taliban for 23 days, but the Islamists finally managed to capture much of the province on September 6.

With the fall of Panjshir, most of the resistance forces retreated to the mountains and since then there is no precise information on the whereabouts of Saleh and Massoud, who could continue in the region or flee to neighboring Tajikistan. (I)