Following the escalation of anti-Taliban front activities, Mohammad Yusuf Wafa, the Taliban’s governor in Balkh, who is known as “Hibatullah’s Shadow” in the north, has traveled to the mountainous districts of Balkh, Sar-e Pul, Samangan, and Bamiyan and has inspected conditions there firsthand. In his most recent move, during a meeting with Taliban military commanders in the north, he ordered full alert. At the same time, the Taliban’s governor in Badakhshan has also threatened the people of the province into obeying Hibatullah Akhundzada, warning that those who defy the order of the group’s leader will be killed. This comes as attacks by the Afghanistan Freedom Front (AFF) in Nuristan and Zibak have increased over the past month, and the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRF) announced yesterday that it had killed the Taliban’s deputy intelligence chief for Badakhshan in the city of Faizabad.
In recent days, Mohammad Yusuf Wafa, the Taliban’s governor in Balkh, accompanied by representatives of the group’s ministries of defense, interior, and intelligence, has visited the districts of Alburz, Zare, Keshendeh, Sufidkhak, Shulgara, Marmal, and Charkint in Balkh; Al-Jihad, Gosfandi, and Balkhab in Sar-e Pul; Dara-e Suf Bala and Dara-e Suf Payin in Samangan; and several areas in Bamiyan. During these trips, in addition to meeting local Taliban officials, he also met with local elders and warned them against cooperating or aligning with the group’s opponents.
In the most recent development, Ataullah Zaid, spokesperson for the Taliban’s governor in Balkh, said that Wafa summoned military commanders and unit officials of the Taliban in the north on Friday evening and asked them to remain on alert to counter possible threats. According to him, Ghiasuddin Rahbar, deputy commander of the Taliban’s Central Corps, also attended the meeting.
Meanwhile, Mirza Mohammad Yarmand, a deputy minister of interior in the former government of Afghanistan, told the Hasht-e Subh Daily that, given the recent developments in various provinces, the Taliban have become concerned that networks and bases of the group’s opponents are taking shape and growing stronger in districts and provincial centers.
According to him, the Taliban governor of Balkh’s trips to various provinces, with a large team and at great expense, were carried out to assess the security situation, lay the groundwork for local cells, and establish a reporting system from villages to districts and from districts to provincial centers. He added that Wafa and his accompanying team also conveyed messages from the Taliban’s central officials to the people during these trips, and that, at the same time, the language of threats was used against the people. According to Yarmand, people were warned that anyone who rises against the Taliban system will be dealt with severely.
On the other hand, Rahmatullah Najib, the Taliban’s governor in Badakhshan, has also recently taken a threatening stance in response to reports about the activities of the group’s opponents. He claimed that there is no security problem in Badakhshan and warned that anyone who opposes or takes armed action against the Taliban will face the group’s harsh response. Najib asked the people of Badakhshan to “obey” Akhundzada and described following the Taliban Supreme Leader as “obligatory” for the people.
This comes as attacks by anti-Taliban fronts have increased in recent weeks. Recently, the AFF announced that it had carried out large-scale attacks against the Taliban in parts of Nuristan, claiming that it had seized some Taliban outposts and taken their equipment and ammunition.
Following the AFF’s attacks on the Taliban in the Kamdesh district of Nuristan, media outlets under Taliban control and fake accounts affiliated with the group have begun propaganda against this front and other anti-Taliban forces by publishing fake videos and AI-generated content. For about a week now, they have produced and published several AI-generated videos about the targeted attacks of anti-Taliban fronts, trying to portray these attacks as failures.
Yesterday, the NRF claimed that its forces, in a targeted operation, killed the Taliban’s deputy intelligence chief for Badakhshan along with two of his bodyguards. In a statement, the front said the operation was carried out in District 6 of the city of Faizabad, the capital of Badakhshan Province.
You can read the Persian version of this report here:
