KABUL – The Taliban on Saturday have arrested six young men in the center of Panjshir province while collecting wild grass in the mountains to store as winter fodder for livestock, local sources told KabulNow.
Although they had reportedly secured permission from the Taliban’s military commission to go to the mountains, they were stopped during a patrol and transferred to the Taliban-run Dashtak prison.
Residents say the Taliban have banned people in Panjshir from accessing the mountains, severely restricting daily life in a province already under heavy militarization. Just last month, two other men were arrested in the Dara district mountains and later killed by Taliban forces.
Rights groups have repeatedly warned that the Taliban’s actions in Panjshir amount to collective punishment. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have documented extrajudicial killings, torture, arbitrary arrests, and enforced disappearances targeting civilians accused of supporting the National Resistance Front (NRF), which continues to wage an armed struggle in the province.
According to independent monitors, more than 130 politically motivated arrests were recorded in Panjshir between January 2024 and January 2025.
The crackdown comes against the backdrop of a massive Taliban military presence in Panjshir, where an estimated 21,000 fighters are deployed across 700 checkpoints and outposts. The group has also imposed a strict nighttime curfew and maintains close surveillance of residents.
Human rights defenders say that the Taliban’s escalating repression in Panjshir reflects their broader strategy of ruling through fear and silencing dissent. The province, historically a stronghold of anti-Taliban resistance, has become one of the most heavily monitored and restricted areas in the country.
