Afghanistan: In Afghanistan, ‘Who Has the Guns Gets the Land’

Dec 3, 2021 | Thomas Gibbons-Neff and Yaqoob Akbary, New York TImes
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Thousands of Afghans are facing such traumatic dislocations as the new Taliban government uses property to compensate its fighters for years of military service, amid a crumbling economy and a lack of cash. Over decades, after every period of upheaval in Afghanistan, property becomes a crucial form of wealth for those in power to reward followers. But this arbitrary redistribution also leaves thousands displaced and fuels endless disputes in a country where the land ownership system is so informal that few people hold any documentation for the ground they call their own.