Taliban fighters make themselves at home in Dostum’s mansion

Fighters occupy glitzy Kabul mansion of one of their fiercest enemies: strongman and fugitive ex-VP Abdul Rashid Dostum.

Taliban fighters have taken over the glitzy Kabul mansion of one of their fiercest enemies: the strongman and fugitive ex-Vice President Abdul Rashid Dostum.

Now in the hands of rank-and-file Taliban fighters, the opulent villa has given the fighters a peek into the lives of Afghanistan’s former rulers, and they say the luxury is the proceeds of years of endemic corruption.

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.