The battle between Taliban fighters and Mawlawi Mehdi in the Balkhab district of Sar-e-Pul province ended after Taliban forces broke the lines of local forces led by Mehdi Mujahid. Residents say that they are witnessing the misfortune and miserable situation of civilians in Balkhab. According to them, Taliban fighters, besides humiliating the locals, want to seize the property of civilians and even women and young girls.
With the beginning of the Taliban campaign to arrest Mawlawi Mehdi, thousands of residents of Balkhab district in Sar-e-Pul province had been forced to leave their homes. A number of these families have escaped to Mazar-e-Sharif and suffered plenty of challenges and problems. These displaced people are not doing well. [Hasht-e Subh Reporter] has visited these displaced people to report the on-ground realities. The situation is reported to be miserable and out of tolerance. Some of these families have taken shelter in a neighborhood on the outskirts of Mazar-e-Sharif in their relatives’ houses, but their situation is not admirable.
Among about 10 women sitting under a tree, a young lady seems to be the most depressed and worried. The reporter spoke with this woman. Although she was not interested in speaking what had happened to her, after a moment she stood up and came closer. She told about her difficult journey from Balkhab to Balkh. The violence of the Taliban has left such an impact on this woman that she is not even willing to speak under a pseudonym. She starts talking without taking a name. She introduces herself as a resident of one of the villages of Balkhab. She says that in addition to oppression, torture, humiliation and insulting the local people, the Taliban fighters want to seize the women and girls of the Hazara people in Balkhab.
Other women also say that the Taliban want to capture and humiliate the young women of Balkhab, and therefore, people have fled to escape dishonor.
According to this young lady, there have been murders in Tarkhoj, the center of the district, itself. “We heard that one of our relatives, an old man and his two grandchildren, were killed there without any guilt,” she says. “Eight people from one family were killed. We are sure of this. There are other things said in the district that I am ashamed to say. I can’t say this at all. These conversations are way out of human values. How can I tell you these conversations? People were threatened that such a thing… one of… God, no, no, what can I say? I can’t talk like that. I said that these conversations are out of boundaries.”
At the same time, an old woman who was sitting among these displaced raised her voice and said, “You are like my children; I will tell you what it is.” Tears started to shed out of her eyes. “The Taliban took our young men hostage, tied them up, beat them up,” she said. “Then they were told that you should bring one out of every 10 young women in your villages to the Mujahideen who have come to fight in Balkhab. Oh God, what kind of day is this that has come upon us?”
The young lady continued: “At the same time, all the other families took their women and daughters out of the area. Many of their men stayed in the same area to evacuate the women who were in danger. Just now that I came with my four children, my husband is still in Balkhab and I am worried about him. Another village where Mawlawi Mehdi is from the same village, there was also a murder and it was very horrible. Because of the terror that the Taliban have shown throughout history, we could not believe them and left home in the middle of the night. People are farming; they have abandoned all their cattle and sheep and have only sought shelter for their own safety out of the areas. When we went to the mountains, we left our children with three grains of dry bread in a week. We had no bread to eat. There was no water. There were many problems during the climb to the mountain; one woman even miscarried her baby and another pregnant woman with her baby on her back died after falling from the mountain. Similarly, another child was born and died. All of them were buried in the same mountain.”
This lady, who is miles away from Balkhab, still has fear on her face and is afraid to speak. With sometimes hidden and sometimes obvious fear, she continues: “Later, the Taliban took Golwarz village. In this village, seven or eight of our people were killed and their dead bodies were left on the battlefield for several days, until the Taliban came and said, come and bury your bodies. A few people went with fear and trembling and buried the martyrs. Now these people can stay in the mountains for two months when it is hot, what will they do after two months? The war in Balkhab is between the Taliban themselves. We ask the Taliban not to do anything to the common people. Now it’s time for us to work, the Taliban should let people live their lives.”
Wit the takeover Balkhab district by Taliban, thousands of families have been displaced to the mountains or have taken refuge in Bamiyan province, Sar-e-Pul province and Balkh province to escape the possible torture and killing by the Taliban. These displaced people need urgent help, but the Taliban have forbidden aid organizations to reach the affected areas in Balkhab and refugees who have sought shelter in neighboring provinces and districts.
