The Taliban’s Ministry of Hajj and Religious Affairs announced that after calculating the final expenses for 30,000 Afghan pilgrims sent to Hajj, a surplus of 96,690,000 AFN remains. According to the ministry, each pilgrim’s share of the remaining amount is estimated at 3,223 AFN, which will be refunded to them.
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, July 29 (Asad 7), officials from the ministry stated that over the past year, a total of 30,000 pilgrims were dispatched to Saudi Arabia for Hajj, alongside 79,037 pilgrims for Umrah.
Noor Mohammad Saqib, the Taliban’s Minister of Hajj and Religious Affairs, stated that the ministry had collected a total of 7,818,307,200 AFN from pilgrims to conduct the Hajj program. He noted that following final accounting after the conclusion of the Hajj season, a surplus of 96,690,000 AFN was identified.
He added that the remaining funds are being held in trust at the Da Afghanistan Bank (the central bank) and that pilgrims can retrieve their respective shares upon visiting.
Officials further reported that within the past year, 44 new mosques were constructed and 28 others were renovated and repaired. Additionally, the ministry issued 400 written fatwas and 228 religious consultations during the same period.
While the Taliban emphasized that men and women hold equal rights to register for Hajj, they provided no statistics or gender breakdown regarding the actual number of male and female pilgrims dispatched.
Writer:Salima Aryaei
