Sources in Kandahar say Mullah Muttasim Aghajan, a former senior Taliban member, has been arrested after returning from Kabul to Kandahar on the orders of Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban leader.
The sources told the Hasht-e Subh Daily on Monday, September 14, that Taliban intelligence special forces surrounded Mullah Muttasim’s madrasa in Aino Mina, Kandahar City, on Sunday evening and later took him away.
According to the sources, he was taken to a Taliban intelligence interrogation facility near the group’s police headquarters in Kandahar. His whereabouts since then are unknown.
Although the Taliban have not stated the main reason for his arrest, sources say that after returning from Kabul last Friday, Muttasim Aghajan hosted several guests at his madrasa. He was reportedly angered by the Taliban leader following the gathering.
The sources added that among the guests, who had gone to the madrasa without the Taliban’s knowledge or permission, were religious scholars Nazar Mohammad Afghani, Najibullah Muneeb and Zahid Rashidi. The scholars are reportedly being held at the madrasa.
No explicit statement has so far been issued indicating what message these religious scholars had brought to Muttasim Aghajan that raised the Taliban leader’s concerns.
Muttasim Aghajan’s latest arrest has raised questions within the group about his political and religious activities.
The issue is considered particularly sensitive because Aghajan had only recently returned from a two-month stay in Kabul, where he met with several senior Taliban officials and sought the return of his passport and identity card, which had been confiscated during his previous detention and not returned to him.
According to the information, he also met with several former politicians in Kabul and had recently been involved in efforts to facilitate dialogue and communication between Afghan and Pakistani religious scholars.
In March 2026, Muttasim Aghajan was also named among the members involved in a joint effort by religious scholars from the two countries to broker a ceasefire.
Although Muttasim Aghajan has longstanding ties with the Taliban, he returned to Afghanistan from the United Arab Emirates with the guarantee of Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid, the Taliban’s defense minister.
Previously, in April this year, Muttasim Aghajan was also arrested by the Taliban in Kandahar and was released after a short period.
