Several former military personnel and their family members have complained about extortion, torture, and retaliation by the Taliban. Some relatives of these ex-soldiers report that in recent weeks, the Taliban have harassed former security forces and their families in various ways. In less than a month, the group has accused at least ten former military personnel of possessing military equipment and extorted money from them.
Former soldiers and their relatives in Daykundi province say the Taliban extort them under various pretexts. They claim that the group forces the families of former soldiers to pay bribes and purchase weapons and ammunition for the Taliban based on unfounded accusations. They emphasize that they are exhausted by the Taliban’s harassment.
Sources told to The Hasht-e Subh Daily that over the past three weeks, the Taliban have accused at least ten former soldiers in the Miramor, Shahristan, Nawamesh, and Pato districts of Daykundi province of possessing weapons and other military equipment and have extorted money from them.
Sources, who asked for anonymity for security reasons, revealed that some former soldiers currently living outside Afghanistan have seen their family members face pressure, interrogation, and torture by the Taliban. The Taliban demand money or the cost of weapons they allege that these families possess.
According to these sources, many families of former soldiers have been forced by the Taliban to purchase weapons and hand them over to the group. In a recent incident, the Taliban arrested a former jihadist commander in the Shahristan district of Daykundi province. Sources confirm that he is currently being tortured by the Taliban.
A resident of Pato district, who also wished to remain anonymous, recounted that several of his relatives who served in the former security forces have been arrested and tortured over the past three years. He added that one of those detained by the Taliban was his uncle’s son. According to him, the Taliban arrested his uncle’s son because his brother had served as a police officer under the previous government and demanded he surrender weapons.
The resident said: “The excuses are endless. Everyone who served in the previous regime handed over their weapons to the Taliban when the Pato district fell. Receipts were issued to everyone, and that was the end of it. I know several people who have been detained and only released after paying money.”
He narrated the arrest of his maternal cousin as follows: “One of my cousins served in the police under the previous government. After the fall, he moved to Quetta, Pakistan. Recently, the Taliban arrested his brother. He was detained for two full weeks, and after several visits to the district, it was decided that 60,000 Afghanis, equivalent to the cost of one weapon, be paid to the Taliban for his release.”
Recently, a video of a former member of the previous government’s security forces circulated on social media, showing him working in construction in Iran. He claimed that the Taliban have repeatedly arrested and tortured his father and brother in the Miramor district of Daykundi province.
This former soldier criticized the Taliban Supreme Leadership for failing to uphold their leader’s general amnesty decree. He urged the Taliban to stop harassing his family, saying: “Because I served in the previous regime, my father and brother have been arrested three times. All my accounts were cleared; I have no weapons or anything else, everything was surrendered long ago. Now, you see, I am abroad working hard to survive and not involved in any groups. Please stop bothering my family.”
Sources added that the Taliban have devised another method of extortion in Daykundi. The group’s fighters guide detainees to specific locations to avoid scrutiny and create legal pretexts, forcing individuals to buy weapons and surrender them to the Taliban.
The sources also reported that most of the Taliban’s local officials and fighters in Daykundi hail from the neighboring provinces of Helmand and Uruzgan. After detaining former soldiers or their families, the Taliban transferred them to specific locations in Uruzgan or Helmand districts. There, they sell weapons to the detainees, pocket the money, and deposit the weapons into the Taliban’s depots.
Additionally, local sources confirmed that on Tuesday, 31 December, the Taliban arrested Reza Amiri, a former jihadist commander, from his home in the Shahristan district’s center. According to the sources, the Taliban had previously accused him of possessing weapons and military equipment and warned him to surrender these items.
Despite Amiri’s repeated denials of having any weapons, the Taliban stormed his house, arrested him, and beat him in front of his family. He was transferred to the Taliban’s police headquarters in Shahristan, where he remains under torture, with his fate unknown.
The findings of this report indicate that the Taliban have intensified their campaign of extortion, blackmail, and baseless accusations in Daykundi and other provinces. They have been forcing former military personnel and their families to purchase weapons.
Recently, the Taliban Supreme Leader issued a decree instructing all Taliban commanders to register their weapons and other military equipment. It appears that Taliban commanders are trying to sell their illegal weapons to former security forces by any means possible.
Over the past three years, the Taliban have arrested many former security personnel of the previous government. During this period, numerous reports have surfaced regarding the killing and torture of hundreds of former security personnel across most provinces of Afghanistan.
You can read the Persian version of this daily report here:
اخاذی طالبان در دایکندی؛ نظامیان پیشین و اعضای خانوادههایشان به ستوه آمدهاند | روزنامه ۸صبح
