Three sources have claimed to the Hasht-e Subh Daily that the Taliban have sexually assaulted two women and a 13-year-old girl, all members of one family, in the Khost district of Baghlan province. This incident occurred last week in the village of “Dehkhiri Faroz.” In addition, four other similar cases have happened during the Taliban’s rule in this area but have not been reported due to prevailing traditions and Taliban threats. The report addresses these incidents, but names are not mentioned due to security concerns. The Taliban have taken some women, repeatedly assaulted them, and returned them to their families after they became pregnant. In one case, they took a 12-year-old girl and a widow to Takhar province.
Local sources in Khost district, Baghlan province, claim that four Taliban fighters sexually assaulted three members of a family, including two women and a 13-year-old girl. According to the sources, this incident happened Tuesday night last week in the village of “Dehkhiri Faroz” in Khost district. One source said, “Four Taliban fighters entered the house of Ghulam Hazrat and sexually assaulted his wife, daughter-in-law, and 13-year-old daughter.” According to the sources, the Taliban fighters were detained by the locals after the assault but were later released under pressure and threats from the Taliban unit commander.
A source told the Hasht-e Subh Daily, “Ghulam Hazrat, who is a farmer, was not at home that night as he was irrigating his fields when his wife called and informed him about the Taliban entering their compound.” The source added that Ghulam Hazrat rushed to the scene and sought help from the locals, but the Taliban unit commander arrived with his fighters and forcibly took the “rapists” away under threat of arms.
The source stated, “Ghulam Hazrat has complained to the local Taliban authorities over the past few days, but because the perpetrators are Pashtuns and close to the unit commander, they are not arrested, tried, or punished. Ghulam Hazrat’s wife, daughter-in-law, and daughter are in poor physical and mental condition due to repeated assaults and torture.”
Another source mentioned, “The rapist Taliban are Pashtuns, two from Kunduz province and the other two from southern Afghanistan. This area is home to people from Panjshir who have stayed there since the resistance era. The Taliban unit commander threatens the locals, accusing them of having ties with the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRF), and has taken the weapons from the four Taliban fighters and released them from the locals’ custody. The next day, the unit commander gathered several local clerics, went to Ghulam Hazrat’s house, and said that these men would be expelled from the Emirate ranks, urging the locals to remain silent.”
Meanwhile, a message from the local Taliban addressed to the district governor, police commander, and intelligence director in Khost district confirmed this incident and called it an “unjust oppression.” The letter stated, “The issue of oppression and rape by the unit or army of the Emirate should be clarified. All officials are aware that such oppression and crime are ongoing. Convey this issue to the Emirate leaders, do not remain silent. If there is no accountability, uprising against such unjust oppression is obligatory. You are responsible as you claim authority. Your capacity is unclear. When such oppression is ongoing, if you remain silent, your honor, dignity, and being a Mujahid are questioned.”
In another part of this letter, the local Taliban wrote: “By Allah, they commit atrocities and then fabricate cases and suppress them. All the Mujahideen in Khost district might be aware of it; if you are not, investigate. As a Mujahid and a Muslim, my heart is deeply pained, and I wrote this with tears in my eyes.”
The letter urges local Taliban to be vigilant to prevent such incidents from recurring and to stop “oppression and abuse.” The letter emphasizes: “Wake up and be alert. Today, they have violated and oppressed our sister; tomorrow, it could be us. Dear Mujahideen!”
Meanwhile, a source confirmed this incident, claiming that similar events have previously occurred in various parts of this district by the Taliban, which were kept from the media due to the “honor” nature of the issue. This source claims that earlier in the Khushdarah area of the Deh Qala village, a girl from one of the villagers was sexually assaulted by the Taliban and became pregnant. According to the source, the Taliban threatened the girl’s father, forcing him to take her to Kunduz province for an abortion.
According to the source, another incident occurred within a month to 45 days in the village of Khwaja Mehran, known as Mirak. The Taliban sexually assaulted another girl. The source said that the girl’s father went to the local Taliban in the district to complain, but they told him there was nothing they could do and advised him to remain silent to preserve his honor. The source claims that the girl’s father filed complaints with local Taliban authorities and went to Pul-e-Khumri, the capital of Baghlan province. On his return, the group’s fighters “abducted” him, subjected him to severe torture, and threatened him with death, warning him to stop “filing petitions.”
The source added: “[Name withheld] consulted with some of his relatives and close friends, and they finally decided to remain silent. The Taliban commander from Kunduz province came to the man’s house to apologize, gave him 20,000 Afghanis, and engaged the girl to one of the assailants.”
Sources also say that one of the bodyguards of Mullah Khaliq, the head of one of the Taliban security posts in Karte Parwan, Kabul, who is originally from this area, has sexually assaulted another girl. According to the sources, this Taliban commander’s bodyguard took the girl with him and returned her to her family when she became pregnant. After this incident, the father of the assaulted girl sold his livestock and gave the money as a bribe to Mullah Khaliq to facilitate his daughter’s marriage to the bodyguard. However, this Taliban official refused to conduct the marriage, leaving the pregnant girl wandering in Kabul’s hospitals.
The Taliban in this region have also shown no mercy to widows. According to sources, Taliban fighters sexually assaulted a widow and her 12-year-old daughter in the Charakh Falak valley of the Kazr village and then took the young girl with them.
A source said: “This crime occurred in Charakh Falak valley, in the Faraghmobl area of the Wardara village. Unfortunately, due to prevailing traditions and the fear and terror of the Taliban, no one raised their voice. The Taliban assaulted a widow and kidnapped her 12-year-old daughter, making her disappear.” This source added that the woman complained to the local Taliban authorities, and about four months later, the Taliban sent several men as suitors to her, telling her that her daughter was alive and had been married to one of the Taliban fighters in Takhar province.
Sources say these incidents are just examples that the public has become aware of and have spread information at the local and village levels. Numerous other incidents occur that people silently endure due to fear of traditions, beliefs, and the Taliban, avoiding media coverage.
Previously, the Hasht-e Subh Daily published another report stating that Mullah Nematullah Fateh, a former district governor and the current mayor of the Taliban for Burka district in Baghlan province, along with six other members of this group, was arrested while committing sexual assault.
Local sources in Panjshir had previously confirmed that a Taliban commander in this province was arrested on charges of sexually assaulting a female police officer. The sources identified him as Muttaqi and specified that he was a member of the Taliban’s military commission in Panjshir province. Mawlawi Sharif, the head of the Taliban’s second security district in Maymana City, also sexually assaulted the wife of a member of the previous regime’s public uprising forces in Faryab province. Another commander of this group named Gulzar Gujar, under the pretext of searching houses, entered a home and sexually assaulted a woman. This incident occurred in the Warsaj district of Takhar province in the house of a tribal elder.
In another incident, two armed Taliban members in the village of Khaneqa in Sozma Qala district of Sar-e Pol province sexually assaulted a woman and her two daughters, aged 12 and 14. Although this incident was reported in the media and the family members demanded the perpetrators be punished, no action was taken in this regard.
You can read the Persian version of this daily report here:
تجاوزهای جنسی طالبان؛ جنگجویان این گروه بر سه عضو یک خانواده در بغلان تجاوز کردند | روزنامه ۸صبح
