Taliban govt-run corporation takes over luxury Kabul Serena hotel

Kabul (AFP) – Afghanistan's Taliban government took over management of Kabul's famed Serena hotel on Saturday, a hotel statement said, a luxury property targeted by Taliban attacks during their insurgency.

The Kabul Serena Hotel was run for nearly 20 years by the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development in the Afghan capital and was popular with business travellers and foreign guests.

"Kabul Serena Hotel shall be closing its operations effective February 01, 2025," a statement from Serena on Friday night said.

Hotel operations are now handled by the Hotel State Owned Corporation (HSOC), the statement added.

"Since opening in 2005, Kabul Serena Hotel has been an integral part of Kabul's social fabric, an iconic presence in the city, and a symbol of our unwavering commitment to the people of Afghanistan," the statement said.

Taliban government spokesmen did not immediately respond to requests for comment and AFP journalists were not allowed onto the property on Saturday morning.

On Saturday, the hotel's website only showed the statement about the handover and Kabul has been removed from the Serena brand's list of destinations.

The Switzerland-based organisation also did not respond to AFP requests for comment.

The Serena has been the target of multiple deadly attacks by the Taliban before they swept to power in 2021, ousting the foreign-backed government.

In 2014, just weeks before a presidential election, four teenage gunmen with pistols hidden in their socks managed to penetrate several layers of security, killing nine people, including an AFP journalist and members of his family.

In 2008, a suicide bombing left six dead, in an attack blamed on the current Taliban interior minister, Sirajuddin Haqqani.

In 2021, the United States and Britain warned their citizens to avoid hotels in Afghanistan, singling out the Serena, underlining the shaky security situation in the aftermath of the Taliban takeover.

In the years since their return to power, however, the Taliban authorities have worked to attract tourism to Afghanistan, touting a return to security.

Calls for aid not to be politicised

Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities on Wednesday said humanitarian aid should not be politicised, saying around 30 non-governmental groups had suspended activities in the country since the United States froze virtually all foreign assistance.

The United States is the largest aid donor in dollar terms globally and in Afghanistan, one of the poorest countries, which is reliant on foreign aid in multiple sectors, including emergency food assistance and healthcare.

After taking office on January 20, US President Donald Trump ordered a 90-day pause to reassess the country’s global assistance funding.

“Aid groups or countries should not use humanitarian aid for political gains,” economy ministry spokesman Abdul Rahman Habib told AFP.

“Around 31 local and foreign NGOs funded by USAID (US Agency for International Development) have seen operations supported by America suspended,” he said, adding that operations funded by other donors were ongoing.