Kabul--The houses are painted in gaudy carnival colours, with multi-tier chandeliers, ornately gilded porticos and giant eagle rooftop sculptures, in a neighbourhood touted as the Beverly Hills of Kabul.
These multi-million-dollar dwellings derided as "poppy palaces" over suspicions they were built on illicit cash from Afghanistan's opium boom appear garishly out of place in a city scarred by decades of war.
But if wedding-cake mansions don't make you cringe and having notorious ex-warlords as neighbours doesn't inspire dread, the wealthy enclave of Sherpur could be your home -- for a monthly rental of $25,000-60,000.
The villas, which emerged during Afghanistan's construction boom after the 2001 US-led invasion, were valued at nearly twice as much two years ago due to soaring demand for luxury accommodation from hordes of foreign contractors, aid agencies and security companies.
But the steady departure of foreigners -- as NATO's 13-year war in Afghanistan winds down -- and fears of impending doom sparked by an ascendant Taliban insurgency have sent rental values plummeting, with "available for rent" signs becoming a familiar sight in Sherpur.
"The market is close to zero," Kabul estate agent Abdul Latif said ruefully, prayer beads wrapped around his wrist, as he showed AFP around an empty 52-room property overlooking a rose-festooned garden.
The oyster-coloured, marble-and-granite dwelling behind high walls topped with rolls of concertina wire has been on the market for nearly six months.
The owner threw in a sweetener, offering to build a blast-proof safe room to protect against any insurgent attack, Latif said.
But the demand for such properties has hit rock bottom.
"People with big money are leaving Kabul," Latif said, his voice bouncing off the walls of the empty villa.
AFP
