Residents of Kandahar Province have raised allegations claiming that certain local Taliban leaders are operating private prisons, where they reportedly detain former officials and military personnel.
In conversition with Hasht-e Subh on Wednesday, August 23rd, Kandahar Province residents asserted that Taliban members have incarcerated local employees and former government military members within their own makeshift detention facilities.
These actions by the Taliban are believed to be driven by personal animosities, land disputes, and other undisclosed motivations, as stated by Kandahar Province residents.
Local sources have also reported that the Taliban, in addition to the private prisons, have detained several Kandahar Province residents in government-run penitentiaries without apparent charges. These cases have gone unaddressed by the Taliban for several months.
As of the time of writing, no official statements regarding these allegations have been released by the Taliban.
This development coincides with recent revelations from the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). According to their latest report, since the Taliban’s assumption of power, over 424 instances of arbitrary detention and imprisonment of former defense and security officials have been documented, along with 144 reported cases of torture.
Furthermore, UNAMA has documented a minimum of 800 human rights violations between August 15, 2021, and June 30, 2023. These violations include 218 reported extrajudicial killings and 14 cases of disappearances.
