The governor of Uruzgan, Assadullah Saeed, says that at least “80 percent” of legal cases in the southern province are assessed and decided by the Taliban – due to an absence of judiciaries and courts in most districts of the province.

But the governor did not elaborate more on the number and type of the cases. He suggested that most of them are criminal cases.

He also said that the residents are referring their cases to the Taliban.

Information by multiple local officials reveal that judiciaries do not operate in most districts of Uruzgan, which has five districts –instead, their employees are operating from the center of Uruzgan or from Kabul. Khas Uruzgan, Choora, Shaheed Hassas, Gizab and Dehraood are the five districts of Uruzgan. The city of Tarinkot is its center.

 “At least 80 percent of our problems are decided by the Taliban because we (the local government) are not present there,” the governor said, referring to legal cases. “We continue our efforts to send the police chief and other officials to the districts if we can. It is certain that there are problems.”

The governor meanwhile asked the Attorney General’s Office to address this problem and to provide the people access to judiciaries.

The Attorney General’s Office in Uruzgan admitted the problem but said a delegation has been sent to the districts for assessing the security situation there.

“We are assessing our attorneys in the center and we often ask them to report to us about their activities,” said Wahiddudin Arghoon, deputy head of the Attorney General’s Office in Uruzgan. “Insecurity is a main challenge that impedes the real implementation of justice.”