RASC News Agency: Local sources from Balkh province report that Taliban intelligence forces arrested five recently dismissed employees from Hairatan Port in a midnight raid on Wednesday, June 26. Sources indicate that the Taliban detained these employees on suspicion of leaking information about the dismissal of 49 Tajik and Uzbek employees. Previously, media outlets had obtained documents showing that the Taliban had dismissed “49 Tajik and Uzbek employees” from the state-owned Astara Company at Hairatan Port.
An official letter obtained by the media reveals that Sardar Mohammad Haidari, the Taliban’s head of the Astara Company, signed the termination orders for these employees. The letter states that the attendance of these employees, following their dismissal, was suspended from July 1 “until further notice.” Astara Company, established by a decision of the Council of Ministers in June 1983, is a semi-governmental company in which Afghanistan government agencies hold a 60% share, and two Russian companies hold the remaining 40%.
The company’s headquarters is located in the central city of Hairatan in Balkh province. Local sources claim that the Taliban dismissed these employees “for ethnic reasons,” asserting that all the dismissed employees belong to the Tajik and Uzbek ethnic groups. Astara Company primarily engages in loading, unloading, and storing commercial goods.
