In the last month of the solar year (April/May 2023), the Taliban killed 13 former military personnel through various means. They also detained 29 individuals from different parts of the country, including military personnel, a civil activist, a poet, 15 tribal elders, a mayor, a private clinic director, a journalist, and a taxi driver. During this same period, the Taliban targeted and killed two former military personnel and two civilians. Two additional individuals lost their lives under the torture of this group, while four were shot and killed by Taliban fighters during a public gathering in Badakhshan province. It is important to note that the figures presented in this report are based on media reports and do not fully capture the actual number of casualties and detainees. Many detainees held by the Taliban remain undisclosed due to security concerns expressed by their families. The general public views the Taliban’s national amnesty as a deceptive strategy to detain former military personnel. The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) has also denounced the Taliban’s national amnesty as a “false promise.”
The Taliban fighters’ failure to comply with the orders of the group’s supreme leader regarding national amnesty is evident in their ongoing detention of former military personnel and civilians. According to some former government security and intelligence officials, the number of detainees and casualties among security forces exceeds the figures provided in this report. It is important to note that the media has only reported documented events. This report categorizes the cases of detention based on military and non-military classifications.
Execution of former military personnel in the past month
Despite claiming to grant national amnesty, the Taliban have continued their killings and detentions of former security forces. In the Wama district of Nuristan province, the group targeted and shot Mohammad Jafar, an officer of the former government’s special forces. His body was discovered in Wama on Tuesday, May 2, at 8:00 AM. Additionally, in Takhar province, the Taliban targeted and killed Shamsullah, another former military personnel, in front of his family members in the village of Hazarbagh, Khwajah Ghar district, around 7:00 AM on Wednesday, May 17.
Execution of Civilians by the Taliban
During the month of Sawr in the solar year (April/May 2023), the Taliban not only targeted former security forces but also carried out a ruthless shooting spree against civilians. On Monday night, May 15, in the newly established village of Tigan in Faryab province’s Khaybar district, the group targeted and killed a civilian named Shukrullah. According to sources, Shukrullah was shot dead near his home by Qari Zubair, the Taliban intelligence chief in Khaybar district. Sources claim that more than eight incidents of civilian executions have been documented in this province in the past month.
During the final days of the Hamal solar year (April 2023), the Taliban targeted a man in Badghis province, accusing him of burning the Quran, in a quasi-judicial process. According to sources cited by the Hasht-e Subh Daily, the Taliban subjected him to a brutal shooting in the village of Arbaban Langar Sharif in Badghis province. Furthermore, in the Kushanda district of Balkh province, Mawlawi Neda Mohammad, a member of the Taliban, targeted a young boy and girl on charges of engaging in an extramarital relationship.
Death under the torture of the Taliban
For the past two years, the Taliban have been torturing, killing, and targeting former security forces, civilians, and individuals suspected of having affiliations with the National Resistance Front (NRF). In the most recent incident, the Taliban subjected the second son of a family to torture, resulting in his death in Panjshir province. Sources report that the victim, Ahmadwali, was detained on Wednesday, May 17, in the outskirts of the capital Kabul, and the Taliban handed over his body to his family the following day. Sources also revealed that his brother, accused of collaborating with the National Resistance Front (NRF), was similarly killed under Taliban torture last year during the Qaws solar year (November/December 2022).
According to the Hasht-e Subh Daily, a 50-year-old man named Khaal Mohammad Bai from the village of Shir Mangawi in Darzab district, Jawzjan province, was killed by Taliban militants. The incident occurred on Saturday, May 13, following a verbal dispute with a Taliban member named Ahmad Rais. Sources indicate that Khaal Mohammad Bai lost his life under the torture inflicted by Ahmad Rais’ sons.
Civilians’ Death by the Taliban
During the month of Sawr in the solar year (April/May 2023), Taliban militants killed four civilians in the district of Darayim, Badakhshan province. According to sources, the incident occurred on Thursday, May 11, after the Taliban attempted to destroy opium farms owned by local residents. In another incident, the son of a Taliban commander in Ghor province killed a girl who had rejected his advances. Sources informed the Hasht-e Subh Daily on Saturday, April 29, that the Taliban commander’s son, along with another militant, killed the girl on Thursday night, April 27, in the Saad Siah area of Firozkoh City, the capital of Ghor province, after their attempted assault was unsuccessful.
Detention of Former Security Personnel Continued by the Taliban
The Taliban’s failure to adhere to their supreme leader’s national amnesty order is evident as they persist in detaining former security forces personnel. According to sources interviewed by the Hasht-e Subh Daily on Saturday, May 6, a former military member named Bakhtyar has been captured by Taliban militants in Paktika province. It is reported that Bakhtyar, along with his family, had fled to Pakistan following the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan. However, upon crossing the Spin Boldak border in Kandahar province, he was apprehended by the Taliban on Friday, May 5.
According to reports in the Hasht-e Subh Daily, the Taliban captured a former military member named Salahuddin Sattari in Nimruz province on the same day. Salahuddin Sattari, a resident of the Warsaj district in Takhar province, was apprehended on Friday, May 5, while attempting to enter Afghanistan from Iran, where he had been employed as a laborer.
Reports indicate that the Taliban arrested a former officer of the previous government’s army named Mohammad Hanif in Parwan province on Tuesday, May 2. The Taliban have subsequently relocated Mohammad Hanif to an undisclosed location.
The Taliban have detained Mahtab Hamdard, a female police officer from the previous government, for the second time in Ghazni province. Mahtab Hamdard previously served in the women’s prison during the republic regime and was involved in combating criminal offenses in Daikundi province. On Tuesday, April 27, the Taliban arrested her in the center of Ghazni City. After spending some time in Kabul, she had been residing discreetly in Ghazni province.
The Taliban have arrested General Abdul Manaf Khandara, a former instructor at the Police Academy of the previous government, in Kabul. The arrest took place on Friday, April 28, in District 11, and he was subsequently taken to an unknown location. Additionally, Zekrullah, a former soldier of the previous government’s national security forces, was also detained by the Taliban in Kabul during the month of Sawr (April/May 2023) and transferred to an undisclosed location.
Two military personnel from the previous government have been detained by this group in Badghis province. Local sources reported to the Hasht-e Subh Daily on Sunday, April 30, that the detainees were taken from Qala-e-Naw city, the capital of Badghis province, and one from Ab Kamari district. They have been transferred to an undisclosed location. The detainees, Noor Mohammad from the army and Mohammad from the police were both serving in the previous government.
The Taliban detained Jamshid, a former security forces member, in Herat province on Thursday, May 18. He had returned from Iran a week before his arrest, believing in the Taliban’s national amnesty.
The Arrest of Writers and Civil Activists by the Taliban
The Taliban detained Majib Zia, a civil activist, at Kabul Airport. After the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, he traveled to Iran and had recently returned to his hometown to attend his father’s funeral. On Monday, May 15, the Taliban arrested him, and his current status is unknown.
According to local sources in Ghazni province, the Taliban have arrested Zabiullah Ayyar, a young poet and writer in the province. He was detained near his house on Thursday, April 27. The sources state that Mr. Ayyar highlighted the importance of reopening schools and universities for girls in his writings.
Detention of Civilians by the Taliban
On Tuesday, May 16, the Taliban detained Firuzuddin Tegin, the former mayor of Samangan province. Sources indicate that he had been residing in the city of Aybak since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan. The Taliban arrested him from his home and took him to an undisclosed location.
The group has also detained a taxi driver named Ahmad Mir from Panjshir province. According to sources, the Taliban arrested him on Saturday, May 13, in the Dalasang area of the Shotul district in Panjshir province. Mir, who had no affiliation with any group, was taken into custody by the Taliban.
The Taliban persist in detaining, harassing, and torturing civilians, as demonstrated by their recent arrest of 15 tribal elders from the Jalrez district of Maidan Wardak province. According to sources, on Thursday, May 11, the Taliban arrested these elders in relation to the disappearance of several cattle belonging to the Kuchis (nomads) in the area several years ago. The Taliban is demanding payment of fines from them, stating that they will not be released until the fines are paid. The Kuchis (nomads) are seeking a fine of 700,000 Afghanis in connection with this case.
The Taliban have arrested Mosaweer Saboor, the son of General Abdul Saboor, a former military officer, in Balkh province. Mosaweer Saboor, who was the head of a private hospital in the province, was detained by the Taliban, according to sources who reported on Tuesday, May 16, to the Hasht-e Subh Daily.
Over the past month, unidentified perpetrators have killed more than 10 individuals in various provinces. The country’s citizens attribute these killings to the Taliban, as they believe the Taliban are targeting former security forces personnel and political opponents using various tactics. They hold anonymous individuals responsible for these acts, as they believe that only the Taliban militants are capable of carrying weapons.
Despite the national amnesty order issued by the Taliban supreme leader, media outlets and credible international organizations have documented numerous cases that reveal violations of this commitment by the Taliban. The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) has further affirmed that the Taliban’s national amnesty is a false promise and that they are not abiding by it.
