RASC News Agency: Local sources in Faryab province report that the Taliban’s intelligence director for Pashtun Kot district, who once worked as a shepherd before the Taliban seized power, has accumulated substantial wealth and transitioned into a prominent businessman within just three years. According to sources, Jilan, the Taliban’s intelligence chief in Pashtun Kot, was previously responsible for a small five-member Taliban unit in the district. Before the Taliban’s takeover, he lived in severe financial distress. One source revealed that Jilan once worked as a shepherd, tending livestock for an entire village in exchange for meager wages.
Despite his humble origins, Jilan hailed by the Taliban as a man of integrity has, over the past three years, married four times, acquired and renovated a three-story house in Faryab’s provincial capital, and amassed a substantial fortune. Before the Taliban’s rise to power, Jilan’s family faced severe financial hardship, with his father forced to work as a shepherd in Mirshikar village, Pashtun Kot district. Another source claims that Jilan has acquired three multi-story residences and amassed considerable wealth, raising serious concerns about the source of his newfound affluence.
While the Taliban’s rule has driven Afghanistan into economic collapse, dowry prices in provinces like Faryab remain exorbitantly high. Many young men, both within Afghanistan and abroad, toil for years to afford the costs of even a modest wedding. Meanwhile, senior Taliban officials have rapidly accumulated wealth and engaged in multiple marriages a stark contrast to the economic realities facing ordinary Afghanistani citizens. Residents of Faryab have voiced deep frustration and concern, questioning how a self-proclaimed Mujahid and “just official” could amass such wealth in such a short time. Many have raised suspicions regarding the Taliban’s financial networks and the opaque flow of funds within the group.
Jilan’s case is not an anomaly. Over the past three years, numerous Taliban officials have purchased lavish properties and married multiple times, fueling widespread allegations of corruption and financial misconduct within the Taliban’s ranks. Just yesterday, RASC News Agency published an investigative report exposing the Taliban’s Deputy Director of Statistics for allegedly amassing illicit wealth through bribery, using the funds to purchase ten luxury apartments in Kabul. These revelations underscore the deepening culture of corruption and abuse of power within the Taliban’s leadership, even as millions of Afghanistani citizens continue to endure extreme poverty and economic hardship.
