Several residents in Ghazni, Maidan Wardak, Bamyan and Daikundi say they have grown weary of mounting Taliban pressure on former military personnel and their families. In recent days, they say, Taliban fighters have ordered mosque imams, influential local figures and village representatives in the Jaghori, Nawur and Malistan districts of Ghazni, the Behsud district of Maidan Wardak, several districts of Bamyan, and districts of Daikundi to compile lists of former government military personnel and hand them over to Taliban military units. Sources say the Taliban are seeking complete details on former military personnel, including their current occupations and places of residence.
Sources have also confirmed that the Taliban have carried out widespread insults, humiliation, arrests and torture of former military personnel in these areas, killing dozens of them through various means. Family members of these former personnel have also been tortured and arrested, and many have been forced to buy weapons and hand them over to the group.
As armed attacks by anti-Taliban fronts have increased across most provinces in recent weeks, particularly in the north, the Taliban have also grown anxious in the country’s central, Hazara-populated regions. Two weeks ago, dozens of Taliban fighters were deployed to border areas of Ghazni, Maidan Wardak and Bamyan and remained on high alert.
According to the report’s findings, Taliban fighters at the time were harassing residents while also worrying that former military personnel had returned to the area to form an armed front against the group. After several days of searching homes and questioning residents, however, they withdrew.
Local sources now say Taliban intelligence has recently ordered mosque imams and village representatives to compile a list of former military personnel and hand it over to the group.
Several former military personnel and residents in these areas say the Taliban have made life increasingly difficult for them.
One resident of Ghazni’s Jaghori district, who served in the police force under the former government, told the Hasht-e Subh Daily on condition of anonymity: “Our hardships keep growing. I’ve been arrested twice in the past five years. The first time, I was forced to buy a weapon and hand it over to the district authorities. The second time, I was accused of possessing a weapon and told to turn it in. This time, despite our severe economic difficulties, we had to pay the district the equivalent of the cost of a Kalashnikov to secure my release.” He said dozens of other former security personnel have faced the same fate, periodically arrested and tortured by the Taliban.
He said he does not know why the Taliban are now compiling lists of former military personnel. “We’re from this area, so we know what’s happening. They asked the local elders for our names. We already spend our days doing hard labor out of sheer necessity, and we’re grateful even for that. Now I don’t know what’s coming, or what this list is for.”
Sources in Ghazni’s Nawur and Malistan districts confirmed that Taliban intelligence has summoned mosque imams and village elders and ordered them to prepare lists of former military personnel as soon as possible.
In neighboring Daikundi, local councils and mosque imams have likewise spent recent days compiling similar lists on Taliban intelligence’s orders, as pressure on former military personnel and their families has intensified there too.
Mohammad Rahmani, a resident of Daikundi’s Sang-e Takht wa Bandar district and a former military member who left the country after the previous government’s collapse, recently posted a video on social media describing the Taliban’s treatment of his elderly father, saying fighters have arrested him at least ten times. Rahmani said the Taliban are using this pressure to try to force his return to the country, where he would then be arrested. In the video, he called on Taliban leaders to end the harassment of former military personnel and honor their commitment to the general amnesty.
The mounting concern over these lists comes as the Taliban have, over the past five years, been repeatedly accused of harassing former military personnel. The group denies the allegations and maintains it remains committed to the general amnesty. Still, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and several human rights organizations have documented the killing of dozens of former military personnel by the Taliban.
You can read the Persian version of this report here:
نظامیان پیشین زیر ذرهبین طالبان؛ از تهیه فهرست تا بازداشت و شکنجه در مناطق مرکزی
