Photo: Social media

Taliban detains dozens of former government officials in Helmand

Sources in Afghanistan’s southern province of Helmand have told KabulNow that the Taliban has detained 36 former Afghan government officials and army soldiers over the past three days.

The former deputy governor of Helmand, Bashir Ahmad Shakir, and former local security officials Zaqum Bandiz, Maamur Sultan Mohammad, Himatullah Dawari and Allah Nazar are among the detainees. 

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According to our source, the detainees have been being held in a prison in the provincial capital, Lashkargah, since Wednesday.

Despite announcing a “general amnesty” in the days after taking control of Kabul, the Taliban has carried hundreds of arrests, torture and extrajudicial killings of former members of the Afghan military and government employees.

The Taliban has not commented.