Another embarrassment appears for the Gulf Emirates and the FIFA organization regarding the World Cup, after the British newspaper reported over the weekend that the Taliban was involved behind the scenes in the preparations for the most important international tournament in the world.
"The Taliban invested a lot in building the World Cup and the tournament was a 'golden chicken'. They were paid millions," claimed an anonymous source who lived in Doha for the past decade before the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021.
The World Cup in Qatar, photo: AP
"Some members of the organization had between six and ten large construction tools, and by renting those machines to contractors in Doha they were making £10,000 a month for each machine," the source added.
As you may recall, the Taliban leadership lived for years in Doha, where the "peace talks" with the United States were also held, which were signed in 2020 during the tenure of former President Donald Trump. According to the report, the Qatari authorities, with the approval of the White House and the United Nations, paid tens of thousands of pounds too A month for the Taliban representation in the capital of the principalities "as part of the assistance to the efforts of the talks with the West", it said.
The newspaper also reveals that the payments were made in cash and later in bank transfers, while Qatar claims that this was done "under supervision and cooperation" with the US.
"It was an open secret in the Afghan embassy in Doha that the Taliban's negotiating team and political office were paid by the Qatari regime and they invested those salaries in construction equipment for the World Cup," says a former Afghan diplomat in Doha.
"The Taliban's Haqqani network even used to collect money and donations from Afghans based in other Arab countries and assured them that the money would be invested in projects for the World Cup in Qatar," he added.
Although there is no evidence of wrongdoing, this is another symbolic blow for Qatar and also for FIFA against the background of the various reports in recent years about the death of thousands of workers during the construction work of the stadiums in the country.
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