How did the Taliban make millions from the World Cup in Qatar?

Newspaper "the telegraph" The British, published two days ago a report according to which the Taliban made millions from the World Cup by supplying construction equipment to build stadiums in Qatar.

According to the publication, senior Taliban officials used lucrative salaries associated with peace talks to buy and then receive heavy machinery for tournament infrastructure over the past decade, according to a source at the Taliban office in Doha, the Qatari capital.

A large group of the Taliban leadership lived in Doha from 2013 onwards, where they were involved in lengthy peace talks with the US"B and O"M.

The same source claimed: "The Taliban invested heavily in building the World Cup and the tournament was a golden duck. They were paid millions".

Two separate senior Taliban sources described how officials were given lucrative allowances to live in the country during peace negotiations, which was then invested in heavy construction machinery.

Qatar authorities – with US approval"B and O"M – The members of the political office of the Taliban in Doha were paid a monthly allowance worth thousands of pounds sterling as part of the efforts to help facilitate the peace talks with the West. The visiting officials were also provided with luxury SUVs, free healthcare and regular food deliveries.

The Telegraph reported that the money was initially paid in cash and then transferred directly to the bank accounts of Taliban officials, making it difficult for US authorities"In Qatar to track expenses.

The Qataris claim that the monthly payments "Monitored in coordination" with USA"B, "including the total amounts and how and where it was spent".

There is no allegation of wrongdoing, or any involvement in the Taliban’s construction arrangements, by the Qatari authorities.

An Afghan diplomat in Doha told the British magazine: "It was an open secret in the Afghan embassy in Doha that the Taliban’s negotiating team and political office were well paid by the Qatari regime and they invested those salaries in construction equipment for the World Cup […] The Taliban’s Haqqani network even used to collect money and donations from Afghans based in other Arab countries and promise them that the money would be invested in Qatar World Cup projects".

The Taliban’s alleged ties to the construction of the World Cup, while not illegal according to the Qataris, raise further questions about the tournament, which has been plagued by allegations of abuse and many deaths in the construction of the stadiums for the tournament in Qatar.

As you remember, the Taliban took over Afghanistan in 2021 after the war"B left the country and since then it has been under the control of an extreme Islamist regime that oppresses women in the country.

Qatar - city
Illustration. Photography: Image by ekrem from Pixabay

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