The Taliban’s newly stationed forces in Ashtarlay district of the central Daykundi province have arrested more than 20 civilians over the last few days in the district, according to local sources.
A local resident, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Kabul Now that the group’s fighters arrested a total of 16 civilians last Friday, December 09. The source added that the Taliban have accused these civilians of keeping weapons.
“The Taliban have told them that your relatives who have worked with the previous regime and fought against us in different areas must give us weapons and munitions now,” the source said.
The arrestees are shopkeepers, teachers, community leaders, and ordinary people from the villages of Qochangqi, Tagab, Nawjook, and Shaikh Miran.
A list that Kabul Now has obtained suggests that the Taliban have arrested more than 20 people over the last few days in the district and released some of them after confiscating their weapons.
Shakib (pseudonym), a resident of Ashtarlay district, said that fighters of the Taliban stationed in the newly created battalion in the district are just there for arresting and harassing the people.
Such treatment of the Taliban has terrorized the local population in the district, he added.
The ruling Taliban has increased pressure on the locals across Daykundi province over the past few weeks.
At least 16 families were forced to flee to the neighboring provinces or to Pakistan and Iran as a result of the Taliban intimidation over the past few days.
A month earlier, the Taliban stormed Sewak-e-Shibar village in Nili, the capital center of Daykundi, and attacked a house. The group’s fighters killed eight civilians, including four children, and described the victims as “rebels”.
