Several Kabul residents have come forward with complaints of harassment by Taliban fighters, particularly on Fridays. They say that when they head out with friends for leisure, they are stopped and searched multiple times along the way. Many report being mocked and humiliated for speaking Dari or for not having a beard. Some allege that during these searches, Taliban fighters plant drugs in their pockets and then refuse to believe their denials, threatening to either extort money from them or haul them off to a police station.
Human rights activists say such encounters amount to clear violations of human rights and individual freedoms, with far-reaching negative consequences for social relationships, family life, and the healthy recreational activities of young people.
Ebadullah (pseudonym), a Kabul resident, describes a pattern of harassment he faces throughout his daily life. He says that wherever he goes, whether for work or personal errands, he is routinely stopped and subjected to demeaning treatment by Taliban members. “They mock us and insult us,” he says. “Sometimes when I speak Persian, they get angry and say: ‘Speak like a Muslim. Why don’t you speak Pashto?”
He says the harassment extends to recreational outings as well. A few days ago, he went with friends to a recreational area when Taliban fighters stopped and searched them and their vehicle. After finding nothing, they searched again and, he alleges, slipped a quantity of hashish into his pocket before confronting him: “What is this for?”
“No matter how many times I told them it wasn’t mine and that I don’t use drugs, they wouldn’t listen,” Ebadullah says. “They said: either pay up or we will take you to the police station. They slapped me across the face several times in front of my friends. The way their forces treat people at checkpoints is completely unprofessional. They make no distinction between an innocent person and a suspect.” He adds that he has been insulted on multiple occasions simply for not having a beard, with fighters telling him, “You look like someone wicked.”
Tayeb (pseudonym) says he, too, has had enough of the Taliban’s conduct. “When they see a nice or expensive vehicle, they stop and search us for no reason. Even if we are with our own mother or sister, they still demand to know who these women are and where we’re going.” He says that every Friday, when he and his friends go out for leisure, they are stopped multiple times along the way. “They check our documents and the vehicle, waste our time, and in the end find absolutely nothing. In other countries, people scrutinize us because of where we come from. Now, in our own country, we face the same treatment, unjustly and without cause.”
Dunya (pseudonym), another Kabul resident, describes a similarly intrusive experience. “Wherever I go with my fiancé, they immediately demand to know who he is,” she says. “One day, we were heading to the market when Taliban fighters stopped our vehicle. Three of them approached and asked my fiancé who I was. When he said I was his fiancée, they pulled him out of the car and questioned him separately about me.”
She says the fighters simultaneously interrogated both of them, asking for each other’s parents’ and siblings’ names to verify that they were genuinely engaged.
“After that, they demanded I show them photos of my fiancé on my phone,” Dunya adds. “Some of my photos showed me without hijab or in casual clothing. I refused, no matter how much they pressed, and it eventually escalated into a heated argument.”
Shahzad Akbar, a human rights activist, says she has documented numerous cases of Taliban harassment targeting families, young people, and even elders during outings and on public holidays. She describes these encounters as violations of human rights and individual freedoms with broad negative consequences for social and family life.
“Because of these restrictions and humiliating encounters, many families feel compelled to confine their leisure time to within their homes,” Akbar says. “They are cut off from open spaces, physical activity, and fresh air, all of which take a serious toll on their mental and physical health.” She stresses that such behavior erodes citizens’ sense of dignity and self-worth, and ultimately breeds resentment and hatred within society.
“Instead of seeing a decrease in this kind of treatment, Taliban fighters are harassing people over the most trivial pretexts,” Akbar says.
Asif Mubaligh, a political analyst, says that when an administration fails to see the people as an integral part of its own body and creates distance from its citizens rather than protecting their values, culture, psychological well-being, and prosperity, social trust and empathy inevitably begin to erode. He argues that an administration that securitizes public space instead of nurturing social bonds and seeks to impose its own narrow, factional values on all segments of society effectively lays the groundwork for deepening social and psychological divisions.
“Under such conditions, people stop seeing the administration as a refuge or a source of support,” Mubaligh says. “It becomes something distant, alien, even threatening. When social security, civil liberties, human dignity, and the right to meaningful civic participation are undermined, public distrust grows naturally and steadily.” He warns that this distrust is not a fleeting feeling. Over time, it can translate into social despair, dwindling civic engagement, widespread discontent, the exodus of educated and skilled citizens, the weakening of national cohesion, and the emergence of deep social and political crises.
He emphasizes that a society in which people feel unheard and in which their identities and values are disrespected will gradually succumb to moral and psychological decay.
“No administration can build lasting stability on security tools alone,” Mubaligh says. “Real stability only emerges when there is mutual trust, justice, respect, and a shared sense of belonging between the people and those who govern them. The wider this divide grows, the harder problems become to solve, and the heavier the social and political costs.”
This comes as, not long ago, several Kabul residents told the Hasht-e Subh Daily that they had grown fed up with harassment by the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (MPVPV) Morality Police, adding that the pervasive presence of these forces had generated widespread fear and anxiety among the public.
You can read the Persian version of this report here:
تمسخر و باجگیری؛ روایت باشندهگان کابل از آزار و تهدید طالبان در ایستهای بازرسی
