Afghan Biographies

Dilawar, Shahabuddin Delawar Maulawi


Name Dilawar, Shahabuddin Delawar Maulawi
Ethnic backgr. Pashtun
Date of birth
Function/Grade Minister of Mines and Petroleum
History and Biodata

1. Former Minister of Mines of Mines and Petroleum (MoMP) (and Industries)
Muhammad Alam Razim Interim Government, Northern Alliance.
Mir Moh. Sediq (2004-2005)
Eng. Ibrahim Adil (200603).
Wahidullah Shahrani stepped down because of Presidential Election 2014 (20090103-20131000),
Mohammad Akbar Barakzai (20131028-20140930)
Mohammad Akbar Barakzai acting Minister (20141001)
acting Minister of Mines and Petroleum Mir Ahmad Jawid Sadat (20141209)
Daud Shah Saba (20150127-20160328 resigned)
Acting minister of Mines and Petroleum Mrs. Ghazal Habib Ghazal Habibyar Safi Ghezal Habib Yar Safi  (20160416, 20160505, 20160824)
Nomininated Mrs. Nargis Nehan ( 20170327, 20171204 rejected and acting 20180103) resigned (20191025)
Enayatullah Momand (20191026, 20200103, 20200402)

Harun Chakhansuri (20200611) nominated and acting. confirmed (20201130)
Mullah Mohammad Essa Akundzada, Mullah Muhammad Essa Akhund (20210907) acting
Maulvi Shahabuddin Delawar (20211122) acting

 

Deputy Ministers of Mines: 
Eng. Muhammad Akram Ghayasi Ghiasi (20100104)
Eng. Abdul Qudoos Hamidi (20100100, 20150514)
Mrs. Ghezal Habib Yar Safi Ghazal Habibyar-Safi (2016)
Deputy Minister for Financial and Administrative Affairs: Abdul Jamil Hares  Eng Abdul Jamil Haris (20140811)
Deputy Minister for Mine Affairs: Eng. Naseer Ahmand Durani (20140930)
Ibrahim Azhar, Deputy Minister of the MoMP (20150524)
Haji Mullah Mohammad Esa Akhund (20211122)
Deputy Minister for Policy and Programs: 
Mir Ahmed Javid Sadat, Ahmad Jawed Sadat (20160824, 20170404)
Sheikh Zia ur-Rahman Aruobi (20220611)
Technical Deputy Minister Mines and Petroleum
Enayatullah Momand (2018)
Engineer Waheedullah Halimi (20220611)

Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum (MoMP)
Shafiqullah Shahrani (20150202)
Deputy of Finance and administration:

Mawlavi Hasamuddin Sabari (20220611)

Deputy for the Geological Survey:
Engineer Noorullah Stankzai (20220611)
Speaker Spokesman Spokesperson Ministry of Mines and Industries:
Mohammad Rafee Sediq Mohammad Sediqi Rafi Sediq, former TOLO journalist  (20141005, 20150211)
Muhayuddin Noori (20160718)
Zabihullah Sarwari (20170420)

Abdul Qadeer Mutfi, Abdul Qadir Mutfa (20180222, 20190227, 20201214)
Mufti Esmatullah Burhan (20220712)

 

MEC report lists reasons behind corruption in MoMP

The Independent Joint Anti-Corruption Monitoring and Evaluation Committee (MEC) in a report has listed ‘a defiant anti-corruption campaign’, political interferences, foreign meddling as main reasons behind corruption vulnerabilities at the Ministry of Mining and Petroleum (MoMP).

In addition, the MEC findings identify weak handling of contracts and political influence in decision making process among factors contributing to corruption in the ministry.

The MEC report says illegal mining, inadequate salaries, weak mining audit, revenue collection, illegal interference of local officials in revenue collection and their involvement in illegal mining are other problems of the ministry.

Making the report, the MEC interviewed 266 experts and evaluated 66 contracts from October 2017 till July 2018 in Kabul, Parwan, Panjshir, Balkh, Nangarhar, Badakhshah, Samangan, Herat and Kandahar provinces.

MEC head Bari Salam, while unveiling the results of the research, said the MoMP had also made some achievements like hiring of employees through the Independent Civil Services and Administrative Reform Commission (ICSARC), signing some Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with concerned government institutions for greater cooperation.

However, he said the mining ministry still faced many issues such as lack of understanding between the authorities concerned, lack of capacity within the ministry and its provincial branches.

Vulnerabilities and danger of corruption

Bari Salam said weaknesses in the anti-corruption system, poor governance, unsatisfaroy connectivity of the ministry with provinces, political influence in decision making and some other areas were vulnerable to corruption in the ministry.

He said the MEC during its report refrained from naming corrupt individuals and only focused on reasons behind the corruption and its vulnerabilities.

Lapses within the contract process and illegal mining

The MEC report says many lapses take place in the process of warding mining contracts and these lapses cause corruption.

Bari Salaam said many procedures of contracts remained unexplained and the required scrutiny did not take place. Before awarding contracts, all necessary documents of the company concerned should be scrutinized carefully, he said.

He said the MEC findings showed the process of contract provision was lengthy and weak and this problem allowed external interferences in the process.

He said event today most of the illegal mining involved powerful individuals, members of Parliament, illegal armed groups and the Taliban on a large scale.

Weak internal audit

The MEC report said internal audit did not happen on a high standard and auditors were badly affected by personal benefits, gifts and other presents offered to them by the institutions being audited.

Salaam said the mining ministry’s audit had been weak and not up to standard and the auditors were bribe-fed.  He said the ministry has nine auditors and of them two would be retiring.

Revenue Collection

The MEC report says local officials and different government institutions without any legal authority were involved in revenue collection of the mining ministry or involved in illegal mining.

 “No report about available deposits, their exact rates and average production is available and there is no monitoring of the production, this is why the revenue could not be properly collected,” he said.

Low salaries and meddling in hiring process

The MEC report say low salaries of employees force them to misuse their authorities in personal interest.

(20181210)

2. Previous Functions:
Counsellor at the Taleban-controlled Afghan consulate in Peshawar, Pakistan (19970116)
Afghan Ambassador to Pakistan (19971121, 19980312)
Charge d affairs in Saudi Arabia, expelled (19980000)
Deputy Chief Justice of the Appeal Court Kandahar(20001000)
Head of the religious board of the Afghan Supreme Court (2001)
Minister of Mines and Petroleum (20211122) acting

 

3. Biodata:
Mawlawi Shahabuddin Dilawar Shaikhul Hadith Shahabuddin Dilawar Shuhabuddin Delawar, is the son of Mawlawi Sayed Akbar, a monarchy-era MP from Logar. According to one of his former comrades in Harakat-e Inqilab-e Islami, with whom Dilawar fought during the anti-Soviet jihad of the 1980s, Dilawar served as the Taleban representative in the Peshawar consulate, Ambassador to Pakistan, chargé d’affaires in Saudi Arabia, Deputy Chief Justice of the Appeal Court of Kandahar and head of the religious board of the Supreme Court which dealt with the international backlash over the Taleban’s destruction of the colossal Buddha statues in Bamyian in 2001. He also attended the Chantilly conference in December 2012

Maulawi Shahabuddin Delawari Delawar Dilawari accompanied  Taliban envoy Tayyab Agha, former private secretary to Mullah Omar, to  meet representatives of the United States in Qatar in the beginning of December 2011 to hammer out details on the role of an office of the Emirate of Afghanistan in Doha, Qatar. Shahabudin Dilawar and Sohail Shaheen, both former Taliban diplomats in Pakistan, accompanied Tayyab Agha.

 

Ataullah Lodin (High Peace Council Vice Chairman) said, that some former Taliban leaders including Abbas Stanikzai Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai , Shahabuddin Delawari and Sayed Taib Agha have gone from Kabul to Qatar with their families.(20120102). The government of Qatar has agreed to financially support the Ex-Taliban leaders and their families.
 

Reports said that Taliban would send Shahabuddin Dilawar and Mohammad Nahim Mohammad Naim as their representatives to a informal meeting in Paris in the end of Dec 2012.
 

Delawar stressed the need to counter domestic and international mafia, saying the international mafia doesn’t want Afghanistan to reach self-sufficiency.

“There is not only one mafia. The mafia exists in various areas. The coal mines have a separate mafia, and talc has a separate mafia. Even there are mafias in our salt mines. The precious and semi-precious stones have separate mafias. Chromite has a separate mafia. flouride has a separate mafia. We are fighting against all of these mafias,” Delawar said.

He said that the ministry has made significant efforts to counter mafia groups and has stopped them from smuggling of minerals.

“The mafia has been prevented now at the national and international level. In the mining sector, the mafias exist at the international level, who do not want Afghanistan to reach self-sufficiency and do not want Afghanistan to stand on its feet,” Delawar said.

Economists said that Afghanistan’s mines have been looted under various titles.(20230310)


Delawar’s elder son, Rohullah Shahab, is already serving as a senior bureaucrat in the office of a Taliban deputy prime minister. Meanwhile, his son-in-law, Shamsuddin Ahmadi, holds a senior position in the Kabul municipality.  Maghfoorullah Shahab, Delawar’s younger son, took over Afghanistan’s embassy in Tashkent on February 4, 2024.

Delawar has come under rare criticism from Taliban members, some of whom have said his son’s appointment as ambassador was a brazen display of political nepotism.

Why It’s Important: The allegations against Delawar are a blow to the Taliban’s claims that its hard-line government is free of nepotism and corruption.

Last Modified 2024-02-10
Established 2011-12-16