Afghanistan’s Taliban administration has established 30 new districts in 12 provinces, a senior official said Monday, in a move the group says aims to improve local governance but which has drawn criticism from some communities.
Abdul Ali Omari, head of land acquisition and resettlement at the Taliban-run Ministry of Agriculture, said the new districts have been formally added to Afghanistan’s administrative maps under an order from the group’s supreme leader. Provinces affected include Badakhshan, Laghman, Badghis, Faryab, Balkh, Kandahar and Nuristan, he added.
The announcement comes amid local backlash over previous administrative changes. Just days earlier, residents of Nuristan province staged a protest, accusing the Taliban of fueling ethnic divisions with their redistricting plans. In a resolution issued on July 24, demonstrators described the changes as “deceptive and unjust,” warning they risk undermining communal cohesion.
It is not the first time the Taliban’s administrative restructuring initiatives have faced opposition at the local level.
