Afghanistan has been allocated 30,000 places for next year’s haj pilgrimage, a Taliban official said on Saturday, as some criticised the process for distributing the quota.
Noor Mohammad Saqib, the Taliban minister for haj and religious affairs, told a news conference in Kabul that the quota had been distributed “transparently and fairly” among applicants across the country.
He said the cost of the pilgrimage for each applicant had been set at 266,400 afghanis ($4,036), down from 282,090 afghanis last year, a reduction of 15,690 afghanis.
The total cost of organising the pilgrimage this year would amount to about 7.82 billion afghanis, Saqib added.
However, some citizens have complained about how applications are assessed, saying that Taliban officials and employees of Taliban-run institutions are prioritised for haj places, leaving ordinary citizens unable to secure a slot.
Several applicants said requests from Taliban officials and public employees were given preference, a claim the ministry denies.
Last year, the Taliban faced criticism after setting the haj fee for Shi’ite pilgrims $50 higher than for other applicants, a move that drew protests from members of the Shi’ite community.
That decision raised the cost for Shi’ite pilgrims to $3,915, compared with $3,865 for others.
Afghanistan’s haj quota is determined annually by Saudi Arabia, which allocates pilgrimage places to Muslim-majority countries based on population.
