The Taliban have deployed over 1,500 troops to five districts of the central Daikundi province and continue to send additional fresh troops to other remaining five districts. The group’s forces have turned the houses of some locals into military bases.
A source tells Kabul Now that the Taliban’s Ministry of Defense has decided to send one battalion – composed of 200 to 350 forces – to each district of the province.
The source adds that the Taliban’s newly deployed forces have already been stationed in Sangi Takht, Meramoor, Shahristan, Kitti, and Ashtarlay districts. The group supposedly plans to send fresh troops to the Khedira district soon.
Daikundi is a remote and mountainous province located in the central part of Afghanistan. It is a predominantly Hazara-populated province that encompasses a total of 10 districts.
With the deployment of fresh Taliban troops to all ten districts, the total number of these troops amounts to more than 3,000.
Turning Civilian Houses into Military Bases
In the meantime, local residents of Daikundi complain about the behavior of Taliban troops accusing them of “violent and inhumane” conduct with the locals. The surge of Taliban troops is more terrifying and concerning rather than ensuring security, according to the locals.
Some residents of the province complain that the Taliban troops have forced some locals out of their houses and turned these houses into military bases.
The Taliban troops arrived a few days ago in the district’s center and turned Khatamul Nabiyyin madrassa into a military base, said a resident of Sangi Takht district. The local resident adds the local elders tried to convince the Taliban not to use this madrassa as a military base, but this request was to no avail.
Sources in the Ashtarlay district of this province confirm to Kabul Now that the Taliban has evicted five families from their homes and two charity organizations from their offices in Shaikh Miran village in a bid to station their troops inside the facilities.
These families — according to an anonymous source — have been displaced, and some of them have moved to the Nili district, the capital city of the province.
Though residents of Ashtarlay have complained about this conduct to the Taliban’s district governor and the provincial governor, the Taliban authorities have ignored the complaints.
Residents of Kitti, Meramoor, and Shahristan districts have made the same complaints about the conduct of the Taliban troops.
This comes as the Taliban’s Prime Minister, Mohammad Hassan Akhund, instructed the group’s ministries of interior, defense, and intelligence agency last year that no agency is allowed to forcibly occupy residential houses.
Moreover, per local sources, the Taliban forces have begun to arbitrarily arrest and torture civilians in the Daikundi province. The group’s forces collect their necessary food and fuel materials from the local people while these local residents are struggling to earn a living for themselves, they complain.
Residents of Daikundi call on the Taliban leadership in Kabul to supervise the actions of their forces and prevent their arbitrary actions.
