Taliban takeover mansion of their fiercest enemy, Abdul Rashid Dostum

Taliban fighters have made themselves at home at the glam Kabul mansion of Afghanistan’s ex-vice president.

Taliban fighters have taken over the glitzy Kabul mansion of one of their fiercest enemies – the warlord and fugitive ex-vice president Abdul Rashid Dostum.

Now in the hands of rank and file Taliban fighters, the opulent villa has given the austere Islamists a peek into the lives of Afghanistan’s former rulers, and they say the luxury is the proceeds of years of endemic corruption.

Along an endless corridor with a thick apple-green carpet, a young fighter sleeps slumped on a sofa, his Kalashnikov rifle resting against him, as exotic fish glide above him in one of seven giant tanks.

Qari Salahuddin Ayoubi, one of the military commanders of the Taliban, watches during an interview with AFP inside the home of the Afghan warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum. Picture: AFP

A Taliban fighter sits inside the mansion as exotic fish glide above him in giant fish tanks. Picture: AFP

The fighter is part of the personal security detail of Qari Salahuddin Ayoubi – one of the new regime’s most powerful commanders – who installed his company of 150 men in the mansion on August 15, the day Kabul fell.

The luxury AFP saw on a tour of the mansion would be unimaginable for most ordinary Afghans.

Huge glass chandeliers hang in cavernous halls, large soft sofas furnish a maze of lounges and an indoor swimming pool is finished with intricate turquoise tiles.

It even boasts a sauna, a Turkish steam bath and a fully equipped gym.

Taliban fighters take a selfie with a mobile phone inside the mansion. Picture: AFP

Taliban fighters sit in the mansion’s greenhouse yard. Picture: AFP

It is an out of this world experience for the new occupants, who for years sacrificed creature comforts for rebellion living on their wits in the plains, valleys and mountains of rural Afghanistan.

But the new head of the household – now the military commander of four provinces – makes it clear his men will not get used to the luxury.

“Islam never wants us to have a luxurious life,” Ayoubi told AFP, adding luxury comes in paradise, “the life after death”.

Abdul Rashid Dostum during a news conference while in exile in Ankara, Turkey, in 1997.

The mansion’s owner, Dostum, is a notorious figure woven into the fabric of Afghanistan’s recent history.

A former paratrooper, communist commander, warlord and vice president, he was the very definition of a cunning political survivor who weathered over four decades of conflict in war-torn Afghanistan.

Despite a series of war crimes linked to Dostum’s forces, the former Afghan government hoped his military acumen and seething hatred of the Taliban would help them survive.

But his stronghold was overrun and the greying 67-year-old fled across the border to Uzbekistan.

Taliban fighters eat their lunch inside the mansion. Picture: AFP

Taliban fighters lounge inside the mansion. Picture: AFP

Dostum is widely suspected to have hugely profited from the corruption and embezzlement that discredited the former government.

Several officials illegally took land to build luxurious mansions in one neighbourhood, earning it the nickname “Thieves’ Quarter” among locals.

In one wing of the enormous house, Taliban fighters relaxed in a massive tropical greenhouse of several hundred square metres under a huge glass roof.

That is overlooked by a mezzanine dominated by a dark wood bar – a testament to the reported decadent tastes of a general renowned for a penchant for late nights and strong liquor.

The Taliban have good reason to hate Dostum.

The Taliban are not used to luxury, the new head of the house said. Picture: AFP

A Taliban fighter visits the greenhouse yard at the home of the Afghan warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum. Picture: AFP

In 2001, he was accused of killing more than 2,000 fighters – locking many in containers in the middle of the desert where they suffocated under a scorching sun.

But Commander Ayoubi rejected any desire for revenge.

“If other people who had been oppressed like us came here, you would not have seen the chairs and tables. They might have destroyed them,” he said.

But the new regime will not allow such luxury to be built with ill-gotten gains in the future, he said.

“We are on the side of the poor,” he says, as dozens of visitors wait patiently in the corridor, idly watching the indifferent fish.

WOMEN AT UNIVERSITY MUST STUDY IN FEMALE-ONLY CLASSROOMS

Women attending private Afghan universities must wear an abaya robe and niqab covering most of the face, the Taliban have ordered, and classes must be segregated by sex – or at least divided by a curtain.

In a lengthy document issued by the Taliban’s education authority, they also ordered that female students should only be taught by other women, but if that was not possible then “old men” of good character could fill in.

The decree applies to private colleges and universities, which have mushroomed since the Taliban’s first rule ended in 2001.

During that period, girls and women were mostly excluded from education because of rules regarding same-sex classrooms and the insistence they had to be accompanied by a male relative whenever they left the house.

There was no order for women to wear the all-enveloping burqa in the new regulations issued late Saturday, but the niqab effectively covers most of the face anyway, leaving just the eyes exposed.

Afghan women wearing full face veils sat in rows at a Kabul university lecture theatre on Saturday, pledging commitment to the Taliban's hardline policies on segregation. Picture: AFP

In recent years burqas and niqabs have largely vanished from the streets of Kabul, but are seen more frequently in smaller cities and towns.

The decree comes as private universities prepare to open on Monday.

“Universities are required to recruit female teachers for female students based on their facilities,” the decree said, adding that men and women should use separate entrances and exits.

If it is not possible to hire women teachers, then colleges “should try to hire old men teachers who have a good record of behaviour”.

While women now have to study separately, they must also end their lesson five minutes earlier than men to stop them from mingling outside.

They must then stay in waiting rooms until their male counterparts have left the building, according to the decree issued by the Taliban higher education ministry.

“Practically, it is a difficult plan – we don’t have enough female instructors or classes to segregate the girls,” said a university professor, who asked not to be named.

“But the fact that they are allowing girls to go to schools and universities is a big positive step,” he told AFP.

Originally published as Taliban takeover mansion of their fiercest enemy, Abdul Rashid Dostum