Badakhshan has in recent days become the scene of intense clashes between anti-Taliban forces and fighters of the group. Following the several-hour capture of Yaftal-e Payan district in this province by the Sepahiyan-e Mihan Front, the Afghanistan Freedom Front (AFF) has announced that it has carried out extensive attacks on Taliban positions in Zebak district. According to the Front’s claims, 21 Taliban members were killed and 37 others wounded in these attacks over the past two days. Independent sources, however, put the Taliban casualty figure at seven. The Hasht-e Subh Daily cannot independently confirm any of these figures.
Over the past five years, the Taliban have repeatedly claimed that forces opposed to the group have no presence anywhere in Afghanistan; however, anti-Taliban fronts have consistently reported carrying out guerrilla attacks and engaging in direct clashes with the group. Numerous reports have also been published showing that in the early years of their rule in Panjshir, the Taliban shot dozens of people after detaining them and tying their hands.
The Afghanistan Freedom Front has recently announced that in clashes with Taliban forces in Zebak district of Badakhshan province, at least 21 members of the group, including several Taliban commanders, were killed and 37 others wounded. The Front has claimed that its forces captured several Taliban bases and positions in the heights surrounding the Zebak border battalion.
In a statement issued Friday, July 24, 2026, the Freedom Front said that its forces’ operations began on the morning of Thursday, July 23, 2026, targeting Taliban bases, units, and military positions in Zebak from several directions, and that the operation is continuing. The Front claimed that after intense fighting, its forces pushed the Taliban back from their positions in the heights surrounding a border base in Zebak. According to the Freedom Front, the Taliban made several attempts to retake the lost positions but failed to do so despite sustaining casualties.
AFF said that one of its own fighters was also killed in the clashes. The Taliban, while previously confirming that clashes had occurred in Zebak, had claimed to have killed five members of the Freedom Front.
The Front further claimed that the 37 wounded Taliban members were transported by helicopter after the clashes to hospitals in Fayzabad city, the center of Badakhshan, as well as to a number of the province’s districts. The Freedom Front’s statement said that a large quantity of Taliban military equipment, weapons, and ammunition had also fallen into the hands of its forces.
Meanwhile, local sources told media outlets on Friday evening that helicopters carrying fresh Taliban reinforcements in Badakhshan came under rocket attack from Afghanistan Freedom Front forces. According to these sources, the attack prevented the transport and deployment of fresh Taliban forces in the mountainous areas of Badakhshan.
Sources also said that seven people were killed and six others wounded. They raised the possibility of further clashes and added that the Taliban had put all their forces on alert. According to the sources, first-degree alerts have been declared in all districts, and restrictions on the movement of residents have also increased.
Last night, sources had confirmed that several rockets were fired from the area known as “Tapa-ye Antenna” toward the center of Darayim district in Badakhshan province. According to the sources, the rocket attacks targeted the provincial security command building and the Taliban’s district center. The sources also emphasized that after the rockets were fired, Taliban forces responded with gunfire.
Meanwhile, Noorullah Nazari, spokesman for the Taliban’s Omar Thalith Corps in Badakhshan, said that a group of armed men attempted on Thursday to enter the Topkhana area of Zebak district via the Chitral route, but were met with resistance from Taliban border forces.
The clashes between the Taliban and the Freedom Front in Zebak have continued as Badakhshan has, in recent months, witnessed an increase in armed attacks against Taliban positions. The two sides have presented differing figures on casualties and the battlefield situation on various occasions.
Earlier, local sources had confirmed that members of the “Sepahiyan-e Mihan Front” attacked the district building, the security command, and the Taliban intelligence directorate in Yaftal-e Payan in a surprise assault on the morning of Friday, July 17, 2026, taking control of the district center for several hours before withdrawing with Taliban weapons in their possession.
In the early years of their rule, the Taliban shot members of the National Resistance Front in Dara district, Panjshir province, in groups, with their hands tied. At the time, the Hasht-e Subh Daily had obtained reports showing that the summer pastures of residents in the mountain heights and grazing lands had also been set on fire by the Taliban. Sources at the time had confirmed that the Taliban, without any investigation, shot young men on accusations of being “resistance-affiliated.”
According to a list of victims obtained by the Hasht-e Subh Daily, over the course of seven days, 17 civilian residents of this district were shot by the Taliban; people who had been farmers, teachers, or schoolchildren.
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