Taliban intelligence agents arrested two soldiers associated with the previous government on the Daikundi-Kabul highway in Maidan Wardak province, local sources said.
The sources told KabulNow that the former soldiers, identified as Reza Hekmatyar, the former police commander of Daikundi’s Shahristan district, and Reza Mujahidzada, the former head of the counterterrorism department in Daikundi’s Pato district, were detained a week ago.
The Taliban accused Reza Mujahidzada of collaborating with the armed anti-Taliban group, the National Resistance Front (NRF). However, sources indicate that he had been living a normal life after the Taliban takeover of the country and had no connection with any anti-Taliban groups.
According to sources, the two former soldiers have been taken to the Taliban’s 40 Intelligent Directorate in Kabul, where their family is not allowed to visit them.
The Taliban has not yet commented on the arrest of these former soldiers.
This incident is the latest in a series of targeted arrests, detentions, and killings of former soldiers, employees of the previous government, and rights activists that have taken place in Afghanistan. The situation has raised serious concerns about the safety and security of citizens across the country.
Following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, thousands of former members of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF), including the former government’s army, special forces, national police, and intelligence service, fled to neighboring countries. According to some reports, around 30,000 soldiers sought refuge in Iran to avoid the threat of being hunted down by the Taliban.
Human rights groups have repeatedly accused the Taliban of gross human rights violations, expressing concerns that revenge killings and enforced disappearances of former security forces have not stopped despite the Taliban’s “general amnesty.”
In a report last year, the UN mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) documented at least 800 cases of human rights abuses including extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests and detentions, and torture and ill-treatment against the former army, police, and intelligence forces between August 15, 2021, and June 2023. Of these, 218 cases involved extrajudicial killings of former security forces and ex-officials, more than 424 cases of arbitrary arrests and detentions, and the remaining were reported as instances of torture, enforced disappearances, and other abuse.
“In most instances, individuals were detained by de facto security forces, often briefly, before being killed,” the report said. “Some were taken to detention facilities and killed while in custody, others were taken to unknown locations and killed, their bodies either dumped or handed over to family members,” it added.
Human rights organizations have criticized the Taliban for revenge killing and widespread violation of human rights, calling on the group to respect the rights and freedoms of all citizens, including former government soldiers.
The Taliban, however, have denied reports of such incidents in the past and have claimed to adhere to their leader’s general amnesty, including for those who worked with the previous government.
