The Taliban have released a forced confession by an elderly man in Kandahar, claiming that he offered a bribe to the group’s judges.
Although the exact date the video was recorded remains unclear, sources told the Hasht-e Subh Daily on Wednesday, November 4, that the incident occurred last Saturday.
According to the sources, the elderly man offered 7,000 Pakistani rupees to Taliban judges as a payment for food, commonly referred to as bread money, in an attempt to resolve his legal case.
The sources stressed that the Taliban confiscated the money, placed it in his turban and humiliated him in public.
The sources added that the detained man claimed he had been forced to pay the Taliban judges what they called bread money to settle his dispute.
Following the video’s release, some people criticized the Taliban, saying the group’s judges do not settle for small bribes and that people would have to offer them $7,000 instead of 7,000 Pakistani rupees.
Critics said the Taliban were exposing a man who allegedly paid a bribe of 7,000 Pakistani rupees to divert public attention from their own conduct. They added that no action had been taken against those who allegedly accept thousands of dollars in bribes.
The criticism comes as people across Afghanistan have grown increasingly frustrated with the Taliban’s judicial institutions. Many are trying to resolve their disputes through local and informal mechanisms rather than approaching these institutions.
