A Step Towards Protecting State-owned Land

By: H.N

In the 1960s, efforts to register state-owned land in the country began, and after a decade, 34% of agricultural land was surveyed and registered in Afghanistan. However, due to political changes, conflicts and insecurity in the country, the land registration process was halted, and land management became marginalized.

During the past four decades, due to lack of attention of the previous regimes towards land management created an opportunity for a number of individual grabbers to seize state-owned land and use it for personal and commercial purposes. On the other hand, the implementation of national and development projects faced serious challenges, hindering the country’s development and leaving adverse effects on the social and economic lives of the people.

According to statistics (unconfirmed officially), approximately 4 million jeribs of state-owned land have been seized throughout the country.

To manage state-owned land, the previous government created various structures, aiming to regulate land affairs more specifically by drafting and amending governance documents and bringing all land management related affairs under one umbrella. However, despite continuous efforts, state-owned land not managed effectively, besides, land grabbing also escalated, leading to increased property disputes and serious challenges toward executing economic development plans and policies.

With the re-establishment of the Islamic Emirate in August 2021, the issue of land management regained its importance and gradually gained attention from the government. The government’s increased attention to land management revived the neglected issue and efforts were made to bring about fundamental reforms in regulating land affairs in Afghanistan.

Besides, addressing the legal and technical challenges in the field of land management in Afghanistan, the government endeavored to lay the groundwork for effective and rational use of state-owned land for economic growth and public welfare.

One of the fundamental and important actions of the Islamic Emirate was the initiation of the process of restituting state-owned grabbed land in the country. The Islamic Emirate is committed to eradicating the problem of land grabbing, which has turned into a cancer in the country, and to create favorable conditions for the implementation of policies and plans which will move the country forward to economic growth and social well-being.

According to the statistics, during the past two years, approximately 25 million jeribs of state-owned land have been identified, out of which more than 2 million jeribs of seized land have been restituted from land grabbers across Afghanistan.

This not only holds significance in protecting the country’s national assets but also provides a conducive environment for the effective and rational use of state land for country’s economic self-sufficiency.

The second initiative of the current government is the systematic initiation of the process of registering state-owned land in Afghanistan. With this initiative, the government seeks to put an end to property disputes and land grabbing by obtaining accurate data and surveys of land across the country, while also creating conditions for garnering domestic and foreign investments and economic opportunities.

Through land management in Afghanistan, the Islamic Emirate is committed to providing better opportunity for the execution of development and economic policies and planning, and by accelerating the process of reclaiming and registering state-owned land, it also aims to take firm steps towards economic growth, employment, and public welfare, bringing about tangible and visible changes in the social and economic lives of the people and moving the country towards prosperity and self-sufficiency.