KABUL:Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s brother, Mahmood Karzai, a key Afghan businessman was detained by the Taliban at the Kabul airport on Sunday, sources told Khaama Press.
The former minister of Urban Development and Land, Mahmood Karzai, has been prohibited from travelling abroad due to legal issues, a spokesman for the Taliban said, reported Tolo News.
A source close to the Taliban’s prime minister’s office who does not want to be named in this report told Khaama Press that Mahmood Karzai was detained by the Taliban’s intelligence service from the Kabul airport as he was boarding an Ariana Airlines flight to Dubai.
Bilal Karimi, the Islamic Emirate’s deputy spokesperson, confirmed that Mahmood Karzai was prohibited from leaving Afghanistan due to a legal issue but denied the arrest of Mahmood Karzai.
The source who spoke to Khaama Press believes the motive behind the detention of Mahmood Karzai may be the political remarks of his brother Hamid Karzai. Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah are the two high-level politicians who remained in Afghanistan even after Taliban took control of Afghanistan.
Former President Hamid Karzai has been criticizing the Taliban government regarding curbing the rights of women and has been demanding the Taliban form an ‘inclusive’ government.
He slammed the Taliban for clashes in the Panjshir region between the National Resistant Forces (NRF) and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, amid rising killings in the country. He said that it is time that the bloodshed must stop.
He also expressed concern over the ban on girls’ education imposed by the Taliban and said such a step could further push the country backward. He also said the regime must ensure that all sections of the population feel represented by the government.
Since its ascent to power in Kabul, the Islamic group imposed policies severely restricting basic rights — particularly those of women and girls.
According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), the Taliban dismissed all women from leadership posts in the civil service and prohibited girls in most provinces from attending secondary school. Taliban decrees prohibit women from travelling unless accompanied by a male relative and require women’s faces to be covered in public — including women TV newscasters.
The Taliban have also carried out censorship, limited critical reporting, and beaten journalists. Taliban forces have carried out revenge killings and enforced disappearances of former government officials and security force personnel. They have summarily executed people deemed affiliated with the Islamic State.
Armed groups linked to the Afghan branch of the Islamic State have carried out bombings targeting ethnic Hazaras, Afghan Shias, Sufis, and others, killing and injuring hundreds. Mahmood Karzai is a major shareholder in the modern commercial city of Aino Mina in the Southern Kandahar province.
Former President, Mohammad Ashraf Ghani had accused him of seizing government lands to build the Aino Mina city during the presidency of his brother, Hamid Karzai, reported Khaama Press.
Mahmood Karzai was appointed as minister of Urban Development and Land by former Afghan president Ashraf Ghani in June 2020 and was approved by the parliament in late December of the same year.
Mahmood Karzai was working as Minister of Urban Development and Land until the collapse of Ashraf Ghani’s government. (ANI)