KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The residence of a former government official in Panjshir burned in fire yesterday, March 4. The house, which was occupied by the Taliban, belonged to Kamaulddin Nezami who served as Panjshir’s governor in the former republican government. This is the third private property of the former government officials in Panjshir to burn in a fire.
The former governor of Panjshir mentioned that local people attempted to control the fire, but the Taliban obstructed their efforts. Nezami stated that the entire contents of his house were consumed by the fire.
According to Mr. Nezami, who now lives out of the country, the Taliban forces prevented the people from putting the fire down. As a result, his entire house with everything in it had burned down.
The reason for the fire remains unclear and Taliban authorities in Panjshir have not commented on the incident.
It is not the first time that the house of a former official from Panjshie caught fire.
On January 13, 2023, the residence of Fazl Ahmad Manawi, the former Minister of Justice, which was also occupied by the Taliban, burned in fire. Mr. Manawi said at the time that his four-story house that was burned in the fire also included a library containing religious, historical, and literary manuscripts some of which were centuries old.
He said that his house was put ablaze by ‘enemies of humanity’, ruling out the possibility of an accidental fire.
The local Taliban authorities in Panjshir later said that the cause of the fire was an “electrical short circuit.” But locals stated that there is no public electricity grid in that village, and people mostly use solar and small generators.
Less than five months later, the residence of Zaher Aghbar, the former government’s ambassador to Tajikistan who still occupies the post, caught fire on June 12, 2023. His property was also occupied by the Taliban.
Mr. Aghbar is affiliated with the military resistance against the Taliban, the Dushanbe-based National Resistance Front (NRF) led by Ahmad Masoud.
Moreover, two school buildings, previously used as Taliban military headquarters, were also set ablaze by the group in Kojan area of Parian district. After forcing Taliban forces to evacuate the ‘Dasht-e-Riout’ area, locals claim the Taliban retaliated by setting fire to a school building.
Local sources in Panjshir accuse the Taliban of deliberately setting fire to the homes of officials from the previous government.
This is happening while most of the Taliban military bases in Panjshir are established in personal residences. According to local sources, even if these houses become vacant of Taliban presence, they will no longer be usable.
