The Taliban-run Ministry of Justice announced that property documents belonging to two former political figures, Zaher Qadeer and Sayed Ishaq Gailani, have been declared invalid following a court ruling related to a contested housing development in eastern Nangarhar Province.
In a statement issued Monday, the ministry said a special tribunal assigned to adjudicate cases of land usurpation ruled that more than 1,232 jeribs (approximately 250 hectares) of land in the Fathabad and Khairabad areas of Surkh Rod district are state property.
The court determined that documents previously used to claim ownership by Qadeer, a former deputy speaker of parliament and son of slain anti-Taliban commander Haji Abdul Qadeer, and Gailani, a political figure with historical ties to the monarchy and a former MP, lacked legal standing. The ruling followed what the ministry described as a review of real estate records, input from relevant agencies, and on-site inspections.
The properties in question were linked to a real estate development known as “Haji Qadeer Township.” According to the Taliban, the initial investigation was conducted by their Commission for the Prevention of Land Grabbing and was subsequently referred to the special court under the “Law on the Prevention and Restitution of Usurped Land.”
The court’s decision transfers all six cadastral parcels involved in the case to state ownership.
While Taliban have intensified efforts to reclaim what they consider illegally seized public land, legal experts and rights organizations have raised concerns about the lack of transparency and due process within the Taliban’s judicial system. Critics argue that such actions — often targeting political opponents or rivals — lack the safeguards of an independent judiciary.
