Taliban Announces New Framework for Distributing Aid to Returning Migrants

The Taliban’s Ministry of Justice has announced the procedure for the Committee on Solicitation, Collection, and Distribution of Aid for Returning Migrants, which was promulgated by the leader of the administration and published in issue number 1484 of the official gazette. This document outlines the framework for the activities of the central and provincial committees in managing aid.

According to the ministry’s newsletter, the procedure consists of an introduction, three chapters, four sections, and 14 articles, with the central and provincial committees designated as the implementing authorities. The document details the composition of the committees, their responsibilities, and the methods for soliciting, registering, storing, and distributing cash, in-kind, and service aid.

The procedure also addresses oversight of the aid distribution process, collaborating authorities, and prohibitions on receiving aid. According to the document, the central committee is tasked with compiling lists of donors and the needs of returning migrants and must officially engage with domestic donors and Afghans living abroad to solicit aid.

A section of the procedure emphasizes that collecting domestic aid outside official channels and receiving foreign aid contrary to Taliban principles and laws is prohibited. These restrictions are introduced amid serious livelihood challenges and shortages of basic services faced by returning migrants in many provinces, raising concerns about transparency and fair distribution of aid.

In the same issue of the official gazette, another decree was published stating that the department responsible for surveying houses under the Administrative Affairs Office has been dissolved and its responsibilities transferred to the Supreme Court.