\n 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.\n<\/p>\n
\n 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.\n<\/p>\n
\n 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.\n<\/p>\n
\n 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.\n<\/p>\n
\n The luxury AFP saw on a tour of the mansion would be unimaginable for most ordinary Afghans.\n<\/p>\n
\n 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.\n<\/p>\n
\n It even boasts a sauna, a Turkish steam bath and a fully equipped gym.\n<\/p>\n
\n 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.\n<\/p>\n
\n 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.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Islam never wants us to have a luxurious life,\" Ayoubi told AFP, adding luxury comes in paradise, \"the life after death\".\n<\/p>\n
\n - 'The thieves' quarter' -\n<\/p>\n
\n The mansion's owner, Dostum, is a notorious figure woven into the fabric of Afghanistan's recent history.\n<\/p>\n
\n 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.\n<\/p>\n
\n 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.\n<\/p>\n
\n But his stronghold was overrun and the greying 67-year-old fled across the border to Uzbekistan.\n<\/p>\n
\n Dostum is widely suspected to have hugely profited from the corruption and embezzlement that discredited the former government.\n<\/p>\n
\n Several officials illegally took land to build luxurious mansions in one neighbourhood, earning it the nickname \"Thieves' Quarter\" among locals.\n<\/p>\n
\n 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.\n<\/p>\n
\n 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.\n<\/p>\n
\n The Taliban have good reason to hate Dostum.\n<\/p>\n
\n 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.\n<\/p>\n
\n But Commander Ayoubi rejected any desire for revenge.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"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.\n<\/p>\n
\n But the new regime will not allow such luxury to be built with ill-gotten gains in the future, he said.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"We are on the side of the poor,\" he says, as dozens of visitors wait patiently in the corridor, idly watching the indifferent fish.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-82026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n