Many former local police commanders and soldiers in Kunduz province report facing severe retaliation from the Taliban. These former military personnel claim that the Taliban harass them under various pretexts, turning their lives into a nightmare. This report includes conversations with ten soldiers and three former local police commanders in Kunduz province. Their accounts of life under Taliban rule depict a dire and concerning situation for these former military personnel. One former local police commander was forced to send his engaged daughter to another province during the night, and then to Iran, without holding an official wedding ceremony, out of fear of the Taliban. Another former commander is constantly under suspicion by the Taliban, who he believes are trying to trap him.
After the previous government fell to the Taliban, the group announced a decree attributed to their supreme leader, which declared a general amnesty and prohibited acts of retaliation and interrogation. According to this decree, former military personnel and employees of the previous government should not be subjected to Taliban retaliation. However, in the nearly three years since, the Taliban have consistently arrested, tortured, and killed former military personnel.
Recently, several soldiers and local police commanders in Kunduz province have complained about Taliban retaliation, harassment, and mistreatment. They say they are exhausted by the Taliban’s pressure and that the group has turned their lives into hell.
In this report, at least ten soldiers and three local police commanders from Kunduz province confirmed they live in constant fear and terror, experiencing similar harassment from the Taliban. They recount that since the Taliban took power, they have lived through difficult times, with their homes frequently searched and several of them arrested.
Maalik (pseudonym), one of the former local police commanders in Kunduz province, says the Taliban are always lying in wait to find a weakness. He emphasizes that if local elders do not support him, the Taliban will arrest and torture him. He recounts: “The Taliban surrounded and searched my house under the pretext that I had brought a girl into the house. I was busy farming and watering my lands. When I was called, I urgently returned home. They asked where the girl was. They hit me with a gun, but one of the elders intervened and said, ‘I can testify he has been on his land all morning; how could he have brought a girl?'”
Meanwhile, sources say that although the Taliban accused this former local police commander of eloping a girl, it later emerged that one of the Taliban’s members had taken a girl from Kunduz province for sexual relations.
The former local police commander states: “I escaped this Taliban trap at that time, but it’s uncertain when and how they will arrest me again.” He emphasizes that he constantly lives in fear and anxiety and that the Taliban are always looking for excuses to arrest him.
Shafiqullah (pseudonym), a former local police soldier, says that he had resigned from his post a year before the previous government fell to the Taliban, yet he has been subjected to harassment by the Taliban. This former local police soldier states that his house has been searched multiple times. He emphasizes that he was even forced to sell tools he had purchased to support his family’s livelihood to Taliban members at half price. The report refrains from specifying the tools due to security concerns.
Saifullah (pseudonym), another former local police member, says that his daughter was engaged to a young man. Despite knowing about the engagement, the Taliban tried to forcibly marry his daughter to one of their commanders, who already had two wives. This former local police member stresses that eventually, his daughter’s fiancé’s family had to secretly move her to another province at night without an official wedding ceremony. He emphasizes that after this incident, the Taliban repeatedly harassed and tortured him. The report avoids mentioning the district and residence of this former local police commander due to security threats.
Former local police members in Kunduz province say that since the Taliban took control, the fate of those who remained in Afghanistan has become extremely dire. According to them, the Taliban regard the local police as their primary enemy.
Although these former local police members are unaware of the fate of many of their comrades, they say that some have been mysteriously killed.
In the report, ten soldiers and three former local police commanders share similar experiences. They emphasize that the Taliban’s retaliation, excuses, and extortion continue relentlessly, forcing many of their former colleagues to leave the country. These former forces urge the Taliban to adhere to their supreme leader’s general amnesty decree and allow them to resume their normal lives in their homeland.
These former forces add that they believed in the Taliban’s general amnesty decree and have taken up farming to earn a living for their children under the group’s rule, without any affiliation with political or military groups.
Meanwhile, the Taliban have instructed community leaders and real estate offices to report any former military personnel or anyone looking to rent or buy a house in Kunduz province to the Taliban’s security and intelligence agencies.
Previously, UNAMA reported that despite the Taliban’s announcement of a general amnesty, they committed 800 human rights violations against former security forces over two years. According to this report, at least 218 killings of former government officials and security forces by the Taliban have been recorded.
You can read the Persian version of this daily report here: