Afghanistan’s Justice Ministry announced Thursday that after a review of land ownership in Sherpur area in Kabul’s 10th district, the Land Grab Prevention Commission found that 155 acres had been usurped.

According to a statement issued by the ministry, the land belongs to the government and the process of reclaiming it will start in the near future.

Sherpur had during the 20 years of occupation under the US and NATO troops been incorporated into the city’s “Green Zone”, a highly fortified area that housed mostly government officials, NGOs and foreign contractors.

It was also directly linked to Wazir Akbar Khan’s primary “Green Zone”, or diplomatic enclave.

The area however is steeped in history, having been the site of the ill-fated siege of the British cantonment during the second Anglo-Afghan War in 1879.

It reportedly remained largely military land through the years but in September 2003, armed police and bulldozers violently ejected around 250 people from land.

According to the Middle East Institute, the authorities demolished homes to make way for lavish mansions that sprang up over the next few years; plots having been dished out to the then freshly empowered elite and allies of the interim republic government.

Given its close proximity to the city center, the Sherpur land is considered extremely valuable.

In August 2022, Sherpur again made headlines. This time when the United States allegedly took out Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of al-Qaeda, in a drone strike.

On Thursday however, the Islamic Emirate said that in accordance with a decree issued by their supreme leader, if land is found to have been usurped then it must be reclaimed “as soon as possible”.

The statement read: “The land, bordered to the east by streets 16, 6, and 15 of Wazir Akbar Khan; to the west by Qassabi Alley; to the north by Wazir Akbar Khan Hill and Shaheed Square; and to the south by Sher Ali Khan Road, has been reviewed by the Technical Committee of the Commission to Prevent Land Seizure and Confiscation, in coordination with Kabul Municipality.”

The Islamic Emirate claimed that no documentation had been provided by occupants to prove private ownership of the parcels of land and instead the area had been developed “arbitrarily and against planned designs.”