The Taliban forces have detained as many as 50 villagers, including children, after an infighting broke out between the group’s fighters in Pamir village of Dara district in the northeastern Panjshir province on Wednesday, a source, who asked not to be named, confirmed to KabulNow.
The Taliban have detained these men and teenagers accusing them that they firstly fired bullets on the group’s bases which led to an infighting between its forces.
Local elders have already started negotiations with the Taliban to release the detainees but their efforts have yet to pay off.
Taliban forces stationed in Panjshir province have previously engaged in firefight among themselves as well and in some cases, they have arrested and tortured the locals after the infighting.
In October last year, the Taliban arrested and tortured locals in the same district after an infighting over “leave days” among the group’s fighters left one of them wounded.
Panjshir is the main power base of the anti-Taliban National Resistance Front (NRF) led by Ahmad Masoud and witnessed deadly battles between NRF fighters and Taliban forces last year. The Taliban have kept a heavy military presence in the province since taking over the province a month after it return to power in August 2021.
Since then, Panjshir and its residents have been under the Taliban continued crackdown both inside and outside Panjshir.
On Tuesday, the Taliban in Kabul arrested a man who is an original resident of Dara district and lost three brothers and three brother in laws – all members of the NRF – in the fight against the Taliban. He is the only man now left for the family.
