Taliban Accused of Nepotistic Appointments at Afghanistan Police Academy
In a controversial move, the Taliban administration at Afghanistan’s National Police Academy has dismissed 15 experienced instructors and replaced them with people close to Sirajuddin Haqqani, the acting interior minister of the group. Internal sources at the academy, which operates under Taliban rule, said the changes were made without giving any reason or allowing the teachers an opportunity to question or اعتراض, or object.
Most of those dismissed had more than 30 years of experience in the military and teaching, and held colonel-level ranks. Some of them were from a specific ethnic group. However, the replacements had no formal teaching background in the security and police fields, and their only qualification for the appointments was their ties to Sirajuddin Haqqani’s close circle.
The development comes as Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada recently ordered an end to ethnic favoritism and internal cronyism within the group’s structure, saying appointments should be based on merit. But these actions have shown that the directive is not being followed in practice.
Afghanistan’s National Police Academy, which has decades of experience in training police personnel, changed its name after the Taliban returned to power and is now operating under the name of one of the Taliban’s prominent members. The changes point to the استمرار, or continuation, of ethnic bias and the strengthening of inner power circles within the Taliban’s command structure, which could have negative consequences for the quality of training and the performance of the country’s security forces.
