Local sources in Panjshir province report that the Taliban plan to establish migrant settlements on private lands in the Anaba district. These lands, currently serving as pasturelands in the village of Anaba, are nestled amidst residents’ houses and rugged mountains. However, some Panjshir residents and civil society activists criticize the Taliban, accusing them of echoing the historical actions of Emir Abdul Rahman Khan and Amanullah Khan, which disrupted local demographics. They stress that any attempt to seize land and relocate non-native individuals will only escalate tensions in the province.
The Panjshiryan World Wide Council (PWWC) asserts in a statement that, under Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada’s orders, 6.1 million people are slated for relocation, disguised as migrants, across 22 provinces. Nevertheless, Taliban authorities claim that the settlements are sanctioned by Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, the group’s supreme leader, and aim to accommodate Panjshir residents returning from neighboring countries.
Panjshir, situated north of Kabul, was once considered a tranquil and secure province among the Afghan people and tourists, before the Taliban’s rule. However, over the past two and a half years, with the Taliban’s foothold in this province, it has become the most unsettled and tensest region in the country.
During the initial months of their rule, the Taliban engaged in widespread detention, torture, and killing of Panjshir residents. According to local sources, this prompted the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRF) to withdraw their forces from the province, resulting in no clashes between the two groups in Panjshir for over a year.
Now, some residents and civil society activists in Panjshir allege that the Taliban are pursuing “divisiveness” and social demography alteration in this province.
Haroon Majidi, one of Panjshir’s civil society activists, states that the Taliban intends to construct settlements for migrants on people’s private lands in the Anaba district of this province. He claims that these lands, situated in the village of Anaba amidst the locals’ homes and the rugged mountains, are currently utilized as pasturelands.
Majidi further adds, “The Taliban, continuing their unlawful and unethical endeavors, aim to sow discord among the Afghan people, intending to create a chaos seed that would take years to eradicate. This time, they seek to distribute people’s lands under the guise of migrant settlements.” He asserts that the Taliban also plan to seize lands from residents in the Paryan district and allocate them to their chosen individuals.
Meanwhile, the Taliban’s Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Livestock in late 2022 identified hundreds of acres of agricultural land and residential houses as “governmental” properties in Panjshir and registered their specifications. At the time, Taliban agriculture officials stated that the purpose of registering “governmental” properties was to prevent the usurpation of state properties by individuals and reclaim them for the government, emphasizing that only unclaimed lands would be confiscated.
However, some local elders in Panjshir argue that most of the agricultural lands and residential houses in Panjshir are ancestral properties and lack legal deeds or titles. They view the Taliban’s actions as seizing personal and public properties under the guise of “governmental lands.”
Ahmad (pseudonym), one of the tribal elders in Anaba district, tells the Hasht-e Subh Daily that there are no lands or houses in Panjshir with legal deeds or titles, and even the mountains have been divided among local elders without any government intervention. According to him, the lands earmarked by the Taliban for the migrant settlement were distributed among the residents four years ago, with each family paying two thousand Afghanis for administrative purposes and mapping.
Ahmad further elaborates that after the distribution of these lands, approximately 20 houses have been constructed in this area, with several others engaging in land leveling and laying the foundations for their homes.
The Panjshiryan World Wide Council (PWWC) has condemned the Taliban’s actions in a statement, alleging that, under the orders of Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban supreme leader, 6.1 million people are to be displaced under the guise of migrants across 22 provinces of the country. According to the council, the Taliban intends to relocate only 50,000 migrants to Panjshir province.
The statement reads: “On one hand, they aim to pressure the indigenous residents to abandon their homes and migrate, ensuring the consolidation of their imported settlers and the survival of their ethnic hegemony. On the other hand, under the pretext of this name, they pave the way for the presence of a vast legion of terrorists alongside their armed forces, who are currently stationed in Panjshir.”
Meanwhile, some legal experts argue that this group is following the pattern of Emir Abdul Rahman Khan and Amanullah Khan in sowing discord and altering the social demography in this province.
Farooq Alim, a former university professor, told the Hasht-e Subh Daily: “By relocating individuals under the guise of migrants, whose origins and backgrounds are unclear, the Taliban are now attempting to alter the demographic makeup of native people of Panjshir, which will inevitably lead to ethnic conflicts. The Taliban should refrain from such actions.”
However, Taliban authorities in Panjshir have denied the allegation of social demographic alteration in Panjshir province. The Taliban’s media office in Panjshir stated in a released statement that this settlement will be built based on the decree of Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada for the residents of Panjshir returning from neighboring countries.
This comes as the Panjshiryan World Wide Council (PWWC) claimed in a 25-page report that the Taliban have seized 285 residential houses, 13 mosques, and 12 schools in Panjshir. According to the report, the Taliban have relocated their fighters with their families in these houses, schools, and mosques. The report also states that there are currently at least 21,000 Taliban fighters present in Panjshir. The council has called for the prosecution of the Taliban in the International Criminal Court (ICC).
