KABUL – On May 16, the Afghan Attorney-General ordered the police in Kabul to arrest a fugitive from justice. They soon traced him to a house in Kabul, where he was hiding. But the police didn't dare arrest him, because the place was heavily-guarded by private militia. The house is owned by a man in his mid-forties called Haji Ruhullah, also known as Haji Kandahari, because he was born in Kandahar. His bodyguards, men from the Pashton tribe, refused to let the police in, to arrest the wanted man, so they radioed headquarters, warning there might be violence. Haji Kandahari walked out of his home and shouted to the officers that he was President Karzai's cousin and there was no way the police could arrest the fugitive, because he was his guest. His big, heavily-muscled bodyguards, touting their Kalashnikovs, towered over the small, skinny men in police uniforms. The police obviously backed down, but they did leave a guard outside Haji Kandahari's home, in case the fugitive guy tried to escape. Shortly after that, the fugitive was seen riding around Kabul in a bulletproof Lexus with Haji Kandahari's bodyguards, going freely in and out of his house every day! The fugitive is suspected of stealing his partner's share in a company they launched together back in 2003. Having dual citizenship helped him. A judge ordered all airports and border posts to arrest him if he tried to leave Afghanistan. But he did escape, only to return a few months later, in order to make a lot of money out of his security company licence! Such licences are highly prized in Afghanistan and the Interior Ministry has stopped issuing new ones, as they allow their owner to transfer their ownership of a company to another company, thereby making millions of dollars. The owners of these licences are also legally entitled to provide bodyguards for any private-sector company or individual. They can also use this entitlement to provide security for foreign companies and officials, and even drug traffickers and other criminals! Apparently, the wanted man risked coming back to Afghanistan to transfer the ownership of MAT, the security company in which he was a partner, to Haji Kandahari, before disappearing again. We cannot disclose the fugitive's identity, because he has yet to be tried in court. When I asked officials about President Karzai's relationship with Haji Kandahari, they denied there was any connection between them. A former minister, who is also Pashton and knows Karzai's tribe very well, said Haji Kandahari was not the President's cousin. “He is middleman who sends fuel and other important goods from Kabul to Kandahar and Nanghar. He bribes the Taliban to provide a secure passage, as the Taliban control these places. He makes a very good living out of this,” the former minister told me, on condition of anonymity. This case shows to what extent the police are paralysed in Kabul. The Taliban fell ten years ago, but the police are still powerless to enter someone's home to arrest a fugitive! If traffickers and other criminals can run amok like this, under the very noses of the ISAF and American soldiers in Kabul, what will happen when the US forces start pulling out in 2014? Afghanistan could well become another Colombia, infested with drug dealers and Mafia, whom no-one dares challenge. What hope is there for the people of Afghanistan and their children?
Entekhabifard is an Iranian journalist, who regularly contributes to The Egyptian Gazette and its weekly edition, the Mail
