Despite Taliban claims of nationwide security, a fresh wave of disappearances involving children, teenagers, men, and women across various provinces of Afghanistan has sparked widespread concern. In recent days, reports have emerged of decapitated and mutilated bodies found in Kabul and Kunar, while numerous families in Takhar, Badakhshan, Panjshir, Kapisa, and Kabul have published missing person notices for their children and relatives. These incidents are mounting at a time when many families say their efforts to locate their loved ones have yielded nothing, and they have received no meaningful response from the Taliban.
Amid growing alarm over escalating insecurity, enforced disappearances, and the killings of children and women, missing person notices and related statistics have been circulating widely in recent days. In some cases, bodies have been returned to families after the initial disappearance. Most recently, the bodies of two girls were discovered in Kabul.
Local sources in Kunar report that the decapitated body of a child was found in the province, specifically in the Nowabad area of the provincial center, one day after the child went missing.
Separately, sources report that the body of a young man named Mohammad Shahzad Niazi was recovered in Kabul after 11 days of being missing. His body was discovered in the Hodkhel area in the eastern part of the city. His father, Jumagul Niazi, had written on Facebook that his son left home on May 29 to go to school and never came back.
In Takhar province, local sources report that a 13-year-old boy has been missing from Taloqan, the provincial capital, for the past two weeks, with no information about his whereabouts. The child, Syed Tamim, son of Syed Habib, is a resident of the Gawmali neighborhood of Taloqan. According to people close to the family, relatives have searched all surrounding areas and possible locations without success.
Sources also confirm that another child, named Zakaria, has gone missing from the village of Aabidara in Farkhar district of Takhar. Zakaria was last seen on Saturday, May 2, at around 11:00 a.m. in Farkhar district. The efforts of his family and residents have so far produced no results.
Beyond children and teenagers, elderly men have also gone missing in recent weeks. Sources told the Hasht-e Subh Daily that Abdul Wahid, known as Bryalay, 61, disappeared from Kabul last Wednesday. Originally from the Rokha district of Panjshir, he had been living in the Parwan Dwa area of Kabul.
Abdul Wahid left home at around 8:00 a.m. that Wednesday and has had no contact with his family since. Phone tracking placed his last known location in the Kampani area of Kabul, after which his phone went dark, and no further trace of him has been found.
Community sources also report the disappearance of a young man from Panjshir province in Badakhshan. On Thursday, May 14, sources identified him as Khitab, son of Mohammad Mansour, a Kabul resident who had traveled to Badakhshan approximately nine months ago for work. His family, sources say, is deeply worried and has received no news of his fate.
Also on Thursday, May 14, sources shared images of bodies wrapped in blood-stained white cloth, reporting that they had been found in District 17 of Kabul. According to sources, residents discovered the bodies on the slopes of a hill along Marshal Fahim Road. The victims were reported to be 19 and 35 years old.
Community sources have also reported the disappearance of a young woman from District 11 of Kabul. On Saturday, May 10, sources told the Hasht-e Subh Daily that she had left home after midday and had not returned. Her family contacted the Taliban, but searches have produced no results. It remains unclear whether she left voluntarily or was abducted. She was unmarried.
Several additional disappearances of young people and children have been shared widely on social media, including Facebook. One notice refers to Ahmad Agha, son of Khan Agha, originally from the Ghawth Valley in Najrab district, who has been missing from the village of Toghak, outside the Najrab Valley, for approximately 20 days.
Citizens say kidnappings and targeted killings have increased, and that the Taliban have either failed to protect the population or that members of the group are directly implicated in many of these cases. Others attribute the crisis to deepening poverty, warning that with no employment and no accountability, the threats facing ordinary people will only grow worse.
You can read the Persian version of this report here:
سرهای بریده و تنهای سلاخیشده؛ چرا ناپدیدشدنها افزایش یافته است؟
