The Taliban introduced a general amnesty after taking over Afghanistan in August 2021. According to the order of the Taliban’s supreme leader, Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzad, all those who worked in the former government have been exempted from prosecution and harassment. However, in practice, this order has not been implemented thoroughly, given that hundreds of former soldiers have been prosecuted in various parts of the country. The Taliban also promised the international community to provide safe passage for those who want to leave Afghanistan. Now, Hasht-e Subh obtained details of a Taliban order according to which thousands of citizens have been banned from leaving the country.
The names of at least 11,000 people are included in a list that are subject to no depart order. Hasht-e Subh cannot detail the specific figures of those banned from leaving the country, as this list is changing every day and in some cases names of people are removed from the list.
A well-informed source confirmed that his name is included on the list of those banned from leaving. The source, who does not want reveal his identity due to security issues, says that he was informed that his name was included in this list based on his relations in customs. He has served in important government positions in the past. The source, who now finds himself in a geographical prison, details that he has learned through his sources that his name is on this list.
The source added that when he obtained a picture of his name and details at one of the country’s airports, he was sure that he could no longer leave Afghanistan. According to the source, the Taliban have banned several thousands of people from leaving the country. “The Taliban have banned thousands of residents of Panjshir, Baghlan, Takhar, Kapisa, Parwan, Badakhshan and other provinces where the NRF is operating, on charge of cooperating with this anti-Taliban front,” the source detailed. According to our source, the Taliban have prepared a list of these people separately for each district and sent a copy of it to their airfields, customs and intelligence agencies, and Taliban forces are arresting and chasing them every day based on this list.
“The list is in all airports and customs offices in the country,” another source said. “Online databases are working and they [employees of the relevant departments of the Taliban] have been told that those who are included in the list should not leave the country.” Well-informed sources who do not want to publish the list of those banned from leaving the country for security reasons explained: “About 11 thousand people are on the list of the Taliban. This list includes members of the National Resistance Front (NRF), former national security employees, ISKP members, judges, security guards and a number of political, cultural and civil figures opposed to the Taliban,” our source detailed.
Due to the security concerns of our sources, Hasht-e Subh has only mentioned the details of the database of the list of banned people in this report as an example. The details read: “The name is (X) and the family name is (Y)”. In the name and surname section, the name of our source is written with details. The table of the banned list has been moved to a database that has a serial number at the top. The serial number consists of numbers and letters. Parts of this table which were cut off for security reasons read: “…Deactivating the applicant’s record and passport…” At the bottom of this option, “Exit Prohibited” is written and below it is written in bold: “The person is blacklisted”.
One of the former judges, who presided over important courts in the country, also confirmed that he was banned from leaving the country. He, whose identity cannot be revealed, details: “Due to security concerns, I was planning to leave the country recently, but I was worried about being detected and caught, especially during the passport check. Inevitably, I was able to get information from a few people that I was banned from leaving the Kabul airport,” he adds. “They only reminded me of my full identity, which is included into the blacklist and a banning order has been issued.”
Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesperson of the Taliban on August 17, 2021, in his first press conference, announced a general amnesty issued by Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada. “Enmity with all parties and movements has ended,” the Taliban spokesperson said in the first press briefing. “We don’t want to live in enmity, and it’s natural.” He also said that the Taliban will not take revenge on any group after issuing this decree.
However, seven months after this order, the New York Times newspaper, in cooperation with Hasht-e Subh, found out that the Taliban, contrary to the promise of amnesty, started mass revenge killings against former government employees and members of the former ANDSF. According to this report, the Taliban have killed or kidnapped about 500 government employees and members of former security forces in six months. During the last week alone, at least three former security forces have been arrested and killed by the Taliban.
On the other hand, Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada issued an order on Thursday (July 21st) according to which criticism of the Taliban’s performance is punishable. In the order, it is argued that this order was issued to “prevent unnecessary accusations against [Taliban] officials and employees”. After that, the Taliban also arrested and tortured dozens of people for expressing their opinions in social media.
