In the past three years, the Taliban have forcibly displaced numerous citizens from specific regions across the country. This group has compelled residents of Panjshir Province, Andarab districts in Baghlan Province, Khwaja Bahauddin District in Takhar Province, Hazaras in Daikundi Province, and the district of Khas Uruzgan in Uruzgan Province to leave their homes and pay tributes. Recently, the Panjshiryan Worldwide Council (PWWC) reported that 2,477 people, including women and children, have been forcibly displaced from this province. In many houses, the Taliban have settled their own families. The council also added that 283 residents of Panjshir, including women and children, have been killed by the Taliban, and 21,000 Taliban fighters are present in this province. Furthermore, residents of the village of “Kandir” in Gizab district, Uruzgan province, say that the Taliban have forced them to pay 30 million Afghanis to Kuchis (nomads) for their lands, which they have owned for years. Video recordings of this incident have been published in the media, and residents also say that they have paid more than half of the amount and must pay the rest within two months, or they will be forced to leave their homes.
Over the past three years, the Taliban have extensively forced the displacement of residents from specific areas, primarily Tajik and Hazara communities. This action by the Taliban has been criticized by international human rights organizations, the United Nations, and the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Afghanistan, deeming it a serious violation of the human rights of the citizens of Afghanistan.
Last night, the Panjshiryan Worldwide Council (PWWC) publicly shared the findings of an investigation in a virtual press conference. The report states that in the past three years, the Taliban have forcibly displaced 2,477 people, including women and children, from this province and settled their own families in their homes.
According to this report, besides forced displacement, land grabbing, and mass killings, the Taliban, with 21,000 fighters, have established military bases in villages, causing harassment to the residents.
The Panjshiryan Worldwide Council (PWWC) stated that the Taliban, against local customs and traditions and without prior notice, move in and out of residents’ homes in villages. Some villages have taken control of drinking water springs, forcing local people to fetch water from the river.
The report also mentions that Taliban fighters roam through people’s farmlands and have taken over butcheries, grocery stores, timber shops, and bakeries in four districts, disrupting the local economy and forcing many residents to leave Panjshir and Afghanistan.
The council added that the actions of the Taliban in Panjshir are condemned and rejected not only by Islamic teachings but also by national and international laws and social customs.
The report states that around 300 houses in Panjshir have been seized by the Taliban, and the families of Taliban fighters have been settled in them. According to the report, 12 houses in the Paryan district, 27 houses in the Khenj district, 68 houses in the Dara district, 10 houses in the Abshar district, 68 houses in the Bazarak district, 37 houses in the Rukha district, 52 houses in Anaba district, and 23 houses in Shotul district have been seized by the Taliban.
The Panjshiryan Worldwide Council (PWWC) said that since August 15, 2021, the Taliban have killed 283 residents of this province, including women and children, in Panjshir and outside the province. According to the council, the Taliban have killed these individuals in various ways, including beheading, gouging out eyes, executing in front of family members, and beating them to death under torture.
Recently, the Taliban also forced the residents of the Hazara-populated village of “Kandir” in Gizab district, Uruzgan province, to pay 30 million Afghanis to nomads for their lands. Local sources say that the Hazaras have so far paid 19 million Afghanis to the nomads in the presence of the Taliban and are required to pay the remaining amount within two months. Otherwise, they will be forcibly displaced by the Taliban. According to sources, local people have collected the 19 million Afghanis by selling all their assets and gathering community help, but the remaining amount imposed by the Taliban is beyond the residents’ ability, and they will eventually be forced to leave their homes.
Local sources say that the residents of “Kandir” village were also forcibly displaced and extorted by the Taliban during their first regime, and their properties were looted. According to local sources, the Taliban took this money from the Hazaras on July 31, 2024, and handed it over to the nomads.
In the past three years, the Taliban have repeatedly extorted money from the Hazaras in the provinces of Ghazni, Daikundi, and Maidan Wardak, demanding large sums for their decades-old land disputes. Hazara residents in these areas say that the nomads, given their privileged status among the Taliban, force them to pay tributes every year.
This action by the Taliban has sparked widespread reactions, including among the Hazaras of Afghanistan. They accuse the Taliban of genocide, forced displacement, land grabbing, and systematic discrimination against the Hazaras.
Laila Frough Mohammadi shared a video of the scene of Hazaras handing over money to the nomads, writing: “Residents of Kandir are forced to pay 30 million Afghanis to stay in their homes and on their lands. Brutal violence, forced displacement, and land grabbing continue as always against the Hazaras.”
Previously, residents of Khwaja Bahauddin district in Takhar province said that they had been forcibly displaced from their homes by the Taliban and were in a very bad situation. They accused the Taliban and nomads of grabbing their properties.
Last year, some residents of Andarab districts in Baghlan province also said that the Taliban, in addition to establishing military bases on their agricultural lands, forcibly displaced families living around these bases and settled their own families in their homes. According to these residents, the Taliban have built roads through people’s lands to supply the bases they have established on hilltops.
Previously, Richard Bennett, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Afghanistan, stated that nearly 1,000 families had been forcibly displaced from Daikundi province. According to this report, the Taliban forcibly displaced about 2,800 Hazaras from 15 villages in Daikundi and Uruzgan provinces in September 2021 alone.
Some residents believe that with the continued rule of the Taliban, many people will be forced to buy back their lands from the Taliban and eventually be compelled to leave their homeland.
You can read the Persian version of this daily report here:
کابوس باجدهی بیپایان و ستم طالبان؛ غصب جایدادها و کوچ اجباری ادامه دارد | روزنامه ۸صبح
