KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Local sources told KabulNow newspaper that the Taliban have detained around 30 residents of the Abdara area in Anaba district of Panjshir province, northeastern Afghanistan.
According to the sources, the residents were detained inside a mosque on Tuesday, August 25, while they were attending evening prayers.
The sources said that an explosion occurred as worshippers were standing in prayer, followed by gunfire from Taliban forces. Local residents claimed that Taliban forces themselves detonated a mine in the area.
Following the explosion and warning shots, Taliban forces reportedly stormed the mosque and detained around 30 worshippers, accusing them of attacking a Taliban military outpost.
Sources told KabulNow that the detainees have remained in Taliban custody for five days and have not yet been released.
According to the sources, the area is the birthplace of Hasib Panjshiri, a slain commander of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan. Local residents had attended his funeral in the Zamankor area one day before the mass arrests.
Hasib Panjshiri, a commander of the National Resistance Front who was killed by the Taliban in Salang, was buried on Monday, August 24, in Zamankor, Anaba district, Panjshir province, amid tight security measures.
The latest arrests come amid a pattern of arbitrary detentions by the Taliban in Panjshir. On August 17, Taliban forces reportedly detained four young farmers in Pariyan district, with local sources saying the men had no known links to groups opposed to the Taliban.
In a separate incident reported on July 18, at least seven other residents of Panjshir were reportedly detained by the Taliban, also without any known affiliation with armed opposition groups. The incidents have raised concerns over an intensified security crackdown and arbitrary detention of civilians in the province.
Residents of Panjshir say that, five years after the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, the province remains under a heavily militarized environment. The Taliban continue to maintain a substantial security presence in the province and have imposed strict restrictions on residents, including limits on movement at night.
Panjshir has also witnessed repeated reports of arbitrary arrests of civilians. In some cases, detainees have been accused of supporting or cooperating with armed groups opposed to the Taliban, although residents and rights advocates have questioned the basis for many of the arrests.
The province has remained one of Afghanistan’s most sensitive security areas since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021. It became the principal stronghold of the National Resistance Front (NRF), led by Ahmad Massoud, and has also been the site of activities by other anti-Taliban armed groups.
Although the Taliban announced that they had taken full control of Panjshir in September 2021, attacks by resistance groups have continued intermittently, particularly in the province’s remote and mountainous areas.
Given Panjshir’s historical significance as a center of resistance to the Taliban, as well as its rugged terrain, the Taliban have maintained a large-scale military and intelligence presence there. Security forces regularly conduct search operations and raids, saying these measures are necessary to prevent armed opposition. Residents and human rights organizations, however, have repeatedly reported arbitrary arrests, alleged enforced disappearances, and other abuses against civilians during such operations.
Amnesty International has also raised serious concerns about the Taliban’s conduct in Panjshir. In 2023, the organization said that numerous acts committed by Taliban forces against civilians could amount to war crimes and that, taken together, they constituted the war crime of collective punishment.
