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Minister: Bactrian Gold 'Safe' Despite Comments in Budget Feud

The Afghan acting Minister of Information and Culture Mohammad Tahir Zuhair on Thursday said that the Bactrian gold collection, one of Afghanistan’s greatest historic resources, is "safe and sound."

He said that the politicians should not politicize the historical assets of the nation.

This comes as tensions between the government and the parliament are still high over the 1400 (2021) financial budget.

Earlier this week, the speaker of Afghanistan’s parliament, Mir Rahman Rahmani, and a number of lawmakers in the parliament, said that the government has taken the budget plan "hostage." They also said that the Bactrian gold collection was facing an imminent threat of theft.

Rahmani and other members suggested the gold collection be transferred abroad, in view of the danger of theft.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) has said that it plans to send the draft budget for the third time to parliament next week.

“Please don’t exploit the culture for your political purposes and do not use culture as a pressure tool,” said Mohammad Tahir Zuhair, the acting Minister of Information and Culture.

“Still, cash is being flown illegally from the special doors of the airport, if such large scale corruption continues, you must be confident that the Bactrian treasury will not remain safe, either,” said Mir Rahman Rahmani, the speaker of the Wolesi Jirga.

Historic background of Bactrian Treasury:

The Bactrian Treasury is recognized as one of the biggest collections of gold in the world and was discovered 4 decades ago in the Tela Tapa area of Sherberghan district, the center of northern Jawzjan province.

The collection is composed of jewels and gold and was discovered from a royal cemetery. 7 corpses were decorated with thousands of pieces of gold.

The collection, which was displayed abroad, is composed of 21,145 pieces of gold.

The treasure belonged to the Kushan empire.

The Kushan Empire was formed by the Yuezhi in the Bactrian territories in the early 1st century.

Budget tensions:

The Afghan parliament has rejected two drafts of the budget for the current fiscal year that started on December 21, 2020, and the situation has turmed into a serious face-off between the two branches of the state.

This is the first time that a draft for the budget has been rejected two times by the Parliament. The Parliament this time has set some “red lines” for its stance on the budget. One of those redlines is equalizing the salaries of government employees, as MPs think the current wage scale of public servants is unjust.

The MPs have listed 19 issues in the draft budget to be fixed. They are as follows:

1. It allocates more funds to an already-criticized discretionary fund that is solely at the president’s disposal.

2. Many proposed amendments by MPs were not even considered.

According to MPs, Afs 21.6bn ($280m) was allocated for the budget, which makes up 4.8% of the entire government budget.

3. The wage gap (advisers are paid thousands of dollars a month while a teacher is paid around 100 dollars).

4. President Ashraf Ghani has included a food distribution program of $280m despite Parliament’s rejection of the scheme and a previous COVID-response food program that was accused of widespread corruption.

5. Afs 4.3bn ($55m) was allocated to a huge construction unit formed under the Office of the President, which has been criticized for signal-sourcing big contracts.

6. Provincial projects were removed from the budget, including ongoing projects.

7. MPs proposed to suspend budgetary funding to institutions run by voted-out caretakers, but the proposed budget does not reflect that.

8. MPs demand guidelines to streamline benefit packages of government officials, including house rents and salaries, which is a common practice in the government.

9. No clarification on internal financial resources.

10. More money allocated to non-development budget than development budgets.

11. The creation of new government institutions without Parliament’s consent.

12. Plans were included to cut 13,000 jobs in government despite an increase in the non-development budget.

13. It showed a lack of proper guidelines for the payment of salaries, expense accounts and house rent for government employees.

14. There was a lack of attention to MPs’ proposed amendments in the use of internal financial resources.

15. No clarification on internal financial resources.

16. Am imbalance in national and development budgets and the addition of Afs15B ($194M) to the non-development budget.

17. Addition of new institutions to the budget plan without Parliament’s consent.

18. Problems in the proposed budget for municipalities.

19. The inclusion of the government’s capacity-building program, which MPs oppose.

“It is interesting that 13,000 jobs are reduced but salaries are increased in the budget,” said Mir Haidar Afzali, an MP.

“For instance, the head of a (government) company gets Afs 600,000 monthly salary and why should we pay their loans from the national budget,” said Azim Kebarzani, a member of the finance and budget committee of the house.

“This speaks to the Finance Ministry’s capacity that it cannot make an effective budget. The problems that it creates result in big national challenges,” said Nazir Kabiri, an expert.

The second draft has an estimated Afs 470 billion (nearly $6 billion) from which Afs 311 billion is for a regular budget and Afs 161 billion is for the development budget. 

Minister: Bactrian Gold 'Safe' Despite Comments in Budget Feud

This comes as tensions between the government and the parliament are still high over the 1400 (2021) financial budget.

Thumbnail

The Afghan acting Minister of Information and Culture Mohammad Tahir Zuhair on Thursday said that the Bactrian gold collection, one of Afghanistan’s greatest historic resources, is "safe and sound."

He said that the politicians should not politicize the historical assets of the nation.

This comes as tensions between the government and the parliament are still high over the 1400 (2021) financial budget.

Earlier this week, the speaker of Afghanistan’s parliament, Mir Rahman Rahmani, and a number of lawmakers in the parliament, said that the government has taken the budget plan "hostage." They also said that the Bactrian gold collection was facing an imminent threat of theft.

Rahmani and other members suggested the gold collection be transferred abroad, in view of the danger of theft.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) has said that it plans to send the draft budget for the third time to parliament next week.

“Please don’t exploit the culture for your political purposes and do not use culture as a pressure tool,” said Mohammad Tahir Zuhair, the acting Minister of Information and Culture.

“Still, cash is being flown illegally from the special doors of the airport, if such large scale corruption continues, you must be confident that the Bactrian treasury will not remain safe, either,” said Mir Rahman Rahmani, the speaker of the Wolesi Jirga.

Historic background of Bactrian Treasury:

The Bactrian Treasury is recognized as one of the biggest collections of gold in the world and was discovered 4 decades ago in the Tela Tapa area of Sherberghan district, the center of northern Jawzjan province.

The collection is composed of jewels and gold and was discovered from a royal cemetery. 7 corpses were decorated with thousands of pieces of gold.

The collection, which was displayed abroad, is composed of 21,145 pieces of gold.

The treasure belonged to the Kushan empire.

The Kushan Empire was formed by the Yuezhi in the Bactrian territories in the early 1st century.

Budget tensions:

The Afghan parliament has rejected two drafts of the budget for the current fiscal year that started on December 21, 2020, and the situation has turmed into a serious face-off between the two branches of the state.

This is the first time that a draft for the budget has been rejected two times by the Parliament. The Parliament this time has set some “red lines” for its stance on the budget. One of those redlines is equalizing the salaries of government employees, as MPs think the current wage scale of public servants is unjust.

The MPs have listed 19 issues in the draft budget to be fixed. They are as follows:

1. It allocates more funds to an already-criticized discretionary fund that is solely at the president’s disposal.

2. Many proposed amendments by MPs were not even considered.

According to MPs, Afs 21.6bn ($280m) was allocated for the budget, which makes up 4.8% of the entire government budget.

3. The wage gap (advisers are paid thousands of dollars a month while a teacher is paid around 100 dollars).

4. President Ashraf Ghani has included a food distribution program of $280m despite Parliament’s rejection of the scheme and a previous COVID-response food program that was accused of widespread corruption.

5. Afs 4.3bn ($55m) was allocated to a huge construction unit formed under the Office of the President, which has been criticized for signal-sourcing big contracts.

6. Provincial projects were removed from the budget, including ongoing projects.

7. MPs proposed to suspend budgetary funding to institutions run by voted-out caretakers, but the proposed budget does not reflect that.

8. MPs demand guidelines to streamline benefit packages of government officials, including house rents and salaries, which is a common practice in the government.

9. No clarification on internal financial resources.

10. More money allocated to non-development budget than development budgets.

11. The creation of new government institutions without Parliament’s consent.

12. Plans were included to cut 13,000 jobs in government despite an increase in the non-development budget.

13. It showed a lack of proper guidelines for the payment of salaries, expense accounts and house rent for government employees.

14. There was a lack of attention to MPs’ proposed amendments in the use of internal financial resources.

15. No clarification on internal financial resources.

16. Am imbalance in national and development budgets and the addition of Afs15B ($194M) to the non-development budget.

17. Addition of new institutions to the budget plan without Parliament’s consent.

18. Problems in the proposed budget for municipalities.

19. The inclusion of the government’s capacity-building program, which MPs oppose.

“It is interesting that 13,000 jobs are reduced but salaries are increased in the budget,” said Mir Haidar Afzali, an MP.

“For instance, the head of a (government) company gets Afs 600,000 monthly salary and why should we pay their loans from the national budget,” said Azim Kebarzani, a member of the finance and budget committee of the house.

“This speaks to the Finance Ministry’s capacity that it cannot make an effective budget. The problems that it creates result in big national challenges,” said Nazir Kabiri, an expert.

The second draft has an estimated Afs 470 billion (nearly $6 billion) from which Afs 311 billion is for a regular budget and Afs 161 billion is for the development budget. 

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