KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The Taliban have detained six more residents of Afghanistan’s Panjshir province, local sources said, as the group intensifies its crackdown on civilians following an explosion claimed by an anti-Taliban armed group.
The detainees were identified as Farooq, Abdul Wahid, Qurban Ali, Mashallah, Mohammad Agha and Shah Ramazan, all residents of the Dara Abdullah Khil area of Dara district. They were detained on Wednesday and transferred to a Taliban special unit stationed in the Dashtak area of Anaba district, the sources said.
The Taliban have also detained at least six other residents of Dara district earlier this week, bringing the number of reported arrests in the district to at least 12 in recent days.
One source said some of those detained were relatives of Qasim Dara, a former anti-Taliban commander. The Taliban arrested close family members of the commander on suspicion of involvement in an explosion two weeks ago in Dara Abdullah Khil. The anti-Taliban group Green Trend claimed responsibility for the attack.
Following the explosion, the Taliban tightened security measures across the Abdullah Khil Valley, imposing strict restrictions on residents and deploying additional fighters to the area, the sources said.
The latest arrests add to a broader pattern of detentions and alleged abuses in Panjshir since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021. Residents and human rights organizations have repeatedly reported arbitrary arrests, torture, extrajudicial killings and other abuses against civilians in the province.
Panjshir has remained a focus of Taliban security operations. The province became a stronghold of armed resistance groups after the Taliban takeover, particularly the National Resistance Front, which has continued to carry out attacks against Taliban forces.
Human rights organizations have documented serious abuses by Taliban forces in the province. A 2023 report by Amnesty International detailed retaliatory violence against civilians, including arbitrary arrests, torture and killings, and said some of the violations could amount to war crimes.
