The Afghanistan Freedom Front has said that the Taliban opened fire to suppress public protests against what it described as the “unrestrained and unlawful” extraction of mines in the provinces of Takhar and Badakhshan, killing and wounding several demonstrators.
In a statement released on Monday night, January 5, the group added that at the same time, in Nahrin district of Baghlan province, the Taliban treated the body of a slain member of the National Resistance Front in an “insulting and contrary to human dignity” manner.
The statement said that the growing public protests against the “plundering of the northern region’s natural resources by Taliban-affiliated contracting companies,” along with the violent suppression of demonstrators, reflects the group’s lack of legitimacy and moral failure.
The Afghanistan Freedom Front also described the Taliban’s treatment of the body of the National Resistance Front member as “cowardly and inhumane,” attributing it to the group’s “weakness and inability” in the face of rising public discontent.
The group warned that those responsible for these incidents would face “the consequences of their actions,” adding that, in its words, “the era of Taliban impunity in northern Afghanistan has come to an end.”
