With the widespread expulsion of refugees from Iran and Pakistan to Afghanistan, the Taliban have intensified the detention of former military personnel, media activists, and civil society members across various provinces. Sources in Kabul report that the Taliban are even paying local children to identify and report individuals who have recently returned to the area. In one instance, a former National Directorate of Security employee was detained in this manner in the “Sar-e-Gardana, Second District” area.
An eyewitness who personally observed the Taliban paying local children and impoverished individuals told the Hasht-e Subh Daily: “In some areas, the Taliban pay children in financial need to identify and report former military personnel in exchange for money.”
The source added, “A few days ago, while passing through the Second District of Kabul, I saw the Taliban gathered. I stopped to see what was happening. They took away a young man who had recently returned from Iran. I recognized him because, during the Republic era, I always saw him in military uniform; I believe he was a National Directorate of Security employee. When they took him, people gathered and were saying that this individual had worked for the previous government.”
The source, who witnessed the detention of a former military officer, further stated: “A young man came and said in the crowd that the Taliban had offered children and teenagers in financial need between 5,000 to 10,000 Afghanis to identify former military personnel. When I heard this, I decided to share the matter with you.”
Meanwhile, findings by the Hasht-e Subh Daily indicate that during the current week, the Taliban detained two former military personnel in Kabul and Kapisa. One was transferred to Bagram Prison, and the other to Pul-e-Charkhi Prison. According to sources, these two individuals had been living normal lives after returning from Iran.
Concurrently, over the past few days, three former military personnel were executed by the Taliban in Kabul, Paktia, and Khost provinces. Among them, one former military officer, after six months of imprisonment in a private detention facility belonging to a Taliban official in Paktia province, was brutally killed, and his body was hidden under rocks.
In recent weeks, the Taliban have detained dozens of girls and women in Kabul on charges of not adhering to the group’s prescribed dress code and transferred them to undisclosed locations. Sources previously confirmed to the Hasht-e Subh Daily that these detentions were carried out by the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. Some of these women were released after providing guarantees and coerced confessions, but the fate of others remains unknown; they have either remained silent or are still detained by the Taliban.
At the same time, the Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC), in a published report, expressed grave concern over a new wave of detentions across the country, particularly targeting journalists and media activists in Kabul and several provinces. The organization stated that at least seven journalists have been detained in Kabul and other provinces, with their work equipment also confiscated by the Taliban.
AFJC, voicing deep concern over the escalating suppression of media freedom in the country, has called on the Taliban to respect the fundamental rights and freedoms of journalists and media workers and to release those detained immediately and unconditionally. The organization reported, citing its sources, that the detentions over the past three weeks were jointly carried out by the Morality Police and Taliban intelligence operatives in Kabul and another province.
According to the Afghanistan Journalists Center’s report, citing local sources, “On 24 July 2025, one journalist and two media activists were detained on charges of holding educational courses for girls, and their work equipment was confiscated. The source stated that these individuals were transferred to the Taliban’s Intelligence Directorate for interrogation.”
The report further noted that on 23 July 2025, an individual in the Kart-e-Seh area of Kabul was detained on charges of designing and providing technical support for news websites operating outside the country. A local journalist in Kabul, who requested anonymity for security reasons, confirmed that this individual was also taken to a Taliban intelligence detention facility.
The Afghanistan Journalists Center’s report stated that on 7 July 2025, a local journalist in one of the provinces was detained by Taliban intelligence for producing reports not approved by the group. According to the center, this journalist was forced to provide two guarantors and pledge to adhere to the group’s stringent conditions to continue working.
The report also emphasized that, due to security concerns, the center is withholding the identities of five detained journalists and media activists, as well as details of their cases and incidents.
The center added: “On Tuesday, 15 July 2025, operatives from the Taliban’s intelligence and Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice raided the office of the ‘Pixel’ media content production company, detaining Nawid Ahmad Asghari, the company’s director, and Mushtaq Ahmad Halimi, his deputy, while confiscating the office’s equipment, including cameras, computers, and data storage devices.”
The Afghanistan Journalists Center stated: “Based on data recorded in the center’s media freedom tracker, with the addition of the recent detainees, at least 15 journalists or media workers are currently detained or serving sentences in Taliban prisons.”
Previously, residents of the Yawan and Raghistan districts of Badakhshan province confirmed that the Taliban have detained and imprisoned several youths in these areas in recent months on political charges, such as membership in the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, “slandering” the Taliban regime, or working with the previous government. They emphasized that, under constant pressure from the Taliban, many cannot move freely. In the most recent case, four youths with their hands tied were executed in the Raghistan district of Badakhshan. Sources attributed this incident and similar events to the Taliban.
You can read the Persian version of this report here:
بازداشت نظامیان و خبرنگاران؛ طالبان سرکوب را گستردهتر کردند
