KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Sources report that the Taliban’s intelligence agency arrested four individuals, including two teachers, from the Dara district of Panjshir province.
The four were arrested on Sunday, November 17, in the Abdullah Khil area of Dara and subsequently transferred to Panjshir’s provincial capital. The reason for their arrest remains unclear.
The detained individuals have been identified as Abdul Wahid Akef, Mohammad Hashim Hashemi, Ahmad Mir, and Mujib. According to sources, Akef and Hashemi are teachers at a local school in the Dara district.
Taliban authorities have not yet commented on the matter. However, the Islamist group has frequently detained residents of Panjshir on charges of links to armed resistance groups or possessing weapons. Last week, Taliban agents also arrested three former military personnel from Panjshir in Kabul, who had crossed the border from Iran.
This latest arrest adds to a broader pattern of escalating crackdowns in Panjshir, where the local population has been subjected to intimidation, abuse, and coercion, according to human rights groups.
Panjshir, north of Kabul, has been a stronghold for two major anti-Taliban factions: the National Resistance Front (NRF) and the Afghanistan Freedom Front (AFF). The region has faced some of the most severe reprisals from the Taliban since their return to power.
The Taliban have detained, tortured, and, in some cases, executed hundreds of Panjshir residents. Rights organizations, activists, and anti-Taliban factions argue that these actions constitute war crimes.
A report by Amnesty International last year highlighted the Taliban’s use of collective punishment in Panjshir, documenting widespread abuses, including unlawful detentions, torture, and executions.
