An investigation by the British newspaper ‘The Telegraph’ has revealed that the Taliban fundamentalist movement earned millions of euros during the construction of the Qatar World Cup stadiums by subcontracting teams to erect the facilities.
According to officials of the Taliban’s political office in Doha, the capital of Qatar, the movement took advantage of money linked to the peace talks with the US and the United Nations taking place in this city since 2013 to «buy and then subcontract heavy machinery for the infrastructure of the tournament».
«The Taliban invested heavily in the construction of the World Cup and the tournament was the goose that laid the golden egg. They paid them millions,» according to this newspaper source, who resided in the city during the negotiations, ultimately thwarted when the Taliban ended up conquering Afghanistan by arms in 2021.
The money mentioned came from «stipends» allocated to members of the Taliban political bureau to live in the country and facilitate the negotiations, which ended up partially destined to the purchase of this equipment to resell it later at a much higher price.
«Some owned between six and ten pieces of heavy machinery and earned up to 11,000 euros per machine per month», according to this source.
Other sources, former Afghan diplomats in Doha, have assured the newspaper that this practice «was an open secret.» «The Taliban’s political office were being well paid by the Qatari regime and invested these salaries in construction equipment for the World Cup,» they add.
The Qatari government has merely commented to ‘The Telegraph’ that «the (Taliban’s) political office and its activities were coordinated with the United States, which had full visibility over all arrangements» and assures that «all actions taken or arrangements made complied with Qatar’s obligations under international law and relevant laws and regulations.»
