These Afghan Ministers, Officials Fled To Their Luxury Homes In The US, Dubai As Citizens Suffered

Several cabinet ministers and high-ranking officials from the Afghanistan government bought real-estate properties in posh localities in the US and West Asia worth millions of dollars when the Taliban was preparing to take over the reign of the nation, a report by the Wall Street Journal said.

The report said that when Afghanistan finally fell to the Taliban, the ministers and officials rushed to these luxurious houses in Dubai, Florida, Los Angeles and Ankara while millions of Afghans remained trapped in their country and several thousands continue to struggle to make ends meet in nations to which they fled.

Among those who fled most were members of former Afghanistan president Ashraf Ghani’s cabinet.

The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) report earlier said that Ghani did not flee with millions of Afghan government money as Taliban-affiliated terrorists were waiting to take over the palace but the WSJ report found that the former president’s wife selected a private villa for their permanent residence at a posh area in the UAE. They both said that these were part of humanitarian assistance.

Hamdullah Mohib, the former national security adviser of Afghanistan, also moved to a four-bedroom home in Florida.

Mohib told the WSJ that he house is owned by his wife’s  – who is an American – mother and added that he owns no property under his name. His wife owns a small investment property in northeast Washington DC, the report further said.

Eklil Hakimi, the president’s longtime finance minister, was also found to have purchased at least 10 properties in California in 2018 (when he was in office) and in the years that followed.

His wife, Sultana Hakimi, transferred eight of those properties to a company called Zala Group, of which she remains the owner. The properties are now valued at more than $10 million.

Ghani’s minister of economy, Mustafa Mastoor, was also found to be the owner of a condo in a development on the Dubai Marina, according to the Wall Street journal.

The governor of the Balkh province Atta Mohammad Noor, was also found to be the owner of an apartment in Dubai’s ‘The Palms’ –  a posh and expensive area where a group of artificial islands shaped like a palm tree houses residential buildings.

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