Some members of the Taliban would have enriched themselves largely by renting equipment to build stadiums, according to “The Daily Telegraph”.
By The Point.fr
© YOMIURI SHIMBUN / Yomiuri / The Yomiuri Shimbun via AFP
Published on
Dbehind the stadiums of Qatar, the shadow of the Taliban. According to the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph, some Taliban officials are said to have earned millions from the World Cup. Taking advantage of comfortable salaries received to be present on Qatari territory and participate in ceasefire negotiations concerning the war in Afghanistan, these high dignitaries would have bought gear which they would then have rented to the builders of the stadiums. “Some Taliban members each had between six and ten pieces of heavy machinery in Doha and earned up to £10,000 (the equivalent of more than €11,000, editor’s note) per machine per month”, says the source of our colleagues
Among these dignitaries would appear in particular Haji Ahmad Jan, Minister of Petroleum and Mines in Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001. A former Afghan diplomat confides: “It was an open secret at the Afghan Embassy in Doha that the team of Taliban negotiation and political bureau were well paid by the Qatari regime and they invested those salaries in construction equipment for the World Cup. When questioned, the Qataris said that the monthly payments, which therefore allowed the purchase of machinery, were “monitored in coordination” with the United States, “including the total amounts and how and where they were spent”.
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In Qatar, these diplomats were already very well off: the Qatari authorities paid a monthly allowance of several thousand euros and provided them with a luxury SUV, free care and food. They therefore added a salary of a few million, and wanted to share the scheme with other dignitaries: “thanks to their network, the Taliban also raised funds from Afghans living in other Arab countries by promising them that the money would be invested in the construction sites of the World Cup”.
If the idea is not illegal, as the Daily Telegraph reminds us, the participation of the Taliban in the construction of stadiums adds a stone in the garden of controversy in this World Cup.