An independent reporter conducted a year-long investigation into the presence of the Taliban in the Dara district of Panjshir province and produced a report that described dozens of war crimes and human rights violations. "Sangar" offers this report to international human rights organizations, primarily to the UN Special Rapporteur, not because he is waiting for their consideration, but because to make them ashamed of their inaction, if they still have a modicum of conscience left.
Author: Shahrzad Darai, a freelance human rights reporter
INTRODUCTION
At a time when Panjshir was on the verge of falling, all the military equipment and supplies of the Panjshir headquarters were provided from the Dara district, as the central districts of the province fell and people began to leave the valley. Only Saricha (the site of the mausoleum of Ahmad Shah Massoud, the national hero of Afghanistan) remained a safe point and that's it.
Panjshir fell. At 10:30 am before noon on September 8, 2021, Mullah Qayyum Zakir (a person associated with Iranian intelligence), who at that time was the Deputy Minister of Defense and was in charge of the Panjshir operation, raised the flag in the provincial financial administration building. Qari Fasihuddin (Badakhshan Tajik, now chief of staff of the Taliban Ministry of Defense), together with Mavlavi Kudratullah (Panjshir Taliban, later governor of Panjshir) on the part of Paryan and Hessae Awwal and Mullah Qayyum Zakir, along with the son of Mullah Bihishti on the part of Parande and Chamalvard, occupied the valley. Thus, five districts of Panjshir were conquered by the Taliban with heavy losses in battle.
Qari Fasihuddin, along with Mavlavi Qudratullah, contacted Commander Haji Malikkhan on the Duab road in Khinj district. Malikkhan immediately went to the administration building of the Dara district and deployed all his fighters so that the Taliban could not own the military equipment and ammunition located in it. After he went to meet with Qari Fasihuddin. They met at the Duab Bridge and went straight to the provincial administration building.
Sheikh Muteullah, who led the Panjshir War, planned to clear the districts of Dara and Obshor and bring in fresh forces if the need arose. But Haji Malikkhan told him that these districts are completely under the control of the Taliban and he was personally responsible for their disarmament. Muallim Sohrab, the head of the administration of Obshor, with the coordination of Haji Malikлhan, surrendered Dara and Obshor districts to Sheikh Muteullah without infiltration by the Taliban forces.
Dara and Obshor were the only districts in Panjshir that surrendered to the Taliban without conflict. They were the only safe place for the Taliban. Commander Malikkhan managed them in complete safety for 9 months. He took weapons and ammunition from some people and handed them over to the Ministry of Defense during the company of the general disarmament.
Mawlavi Nurullah, a cousin of Haji Malikkhan, was appointed head of the administration of the Dara district, which raised even more hope for the district's safety. For nine months, there were no forces in Dara, except for the local Taliban under the command of Malikkhan.
This situation continued until May 5, 2022. Despite strong disagreements between Commander Haji Malikkhan and Mawlavi Qudratullah, the governor of Panjshir, and the persecution of the Malikkhan family by agents of the governor himself, Dara was still a safe place.
DARA WARS
On May 6, the Taliban entered the village of Tundkhu, Dara district, to search the house of the commander of the Dara camp of the Resistance Front, Muhammad Akram, son of Amir Hatam. Afghans/Pashtuns from Helmand and Zabul attacked Commander Akram's house in three Rangers (American combat vehicles). When the Taliban entered the Tundkhu market, they began torturing, beating, and arresting civilians. Among these people were children and the elderly. After beating and arresting civilians in the Tundkhu market, they harassed the villagers. They sexually abused and tortured a woman named Gulpari, the daughter of Muhammad Kashif. Returning from the village of Tundkhu, the Taliban encountered a small ambush in the area of Parchul, located near the village market. During this short conflict, one Taliban was wounded and three Resistance Front fighters were killed.
The next day, Saturday, May 7, the Taliban returned to Dara with more than 2,000 fighters. On the same day, the Taliban entered the village of Qalai Tarkha of the district, searched the houses of all the inhabitants, arrested and subjected them to severe torture.
In the evening of the same day, 170 Taliban entered the Abdullakhel valley, wanting to clear the local market. At this time, they faced a dangerous ambush by the forces of the Resistance Front led by Haji Malikkhan. As a result, 120 Taliban and two resistance fighters were killed. 35 Taliban and two resistance fighters were wounded. During the night of the same day, the front line collapsed, and the next day, on Sunday, May 8, over 10,000 Taliban troops led by Haji Farhad, a Pashtun/Afghan from Helmand, commander of the 111th Division, entered Abdullakhel. On that day, the Taliban began massacres, burning houses and arresting civilians.
With their offensive campaign, the Taliban created a fighting and military situation in the Dara district. Over the past six months, they have carried out more than 15 offensive operations to arrest commander Haji Malikkhan and his people. Each operation ended without a result. The Taliban retreated having lost their militants killed.
In an offensive campaign on August 3, the Taliban launched a large-scale operation to suppress the forces of Commander Haji Malikkhan and faced heavy resistance from the forces of the Resistance Front. This conflict lasted for about sixteen hours, resulting in 73 Taliban killed, some wounded, and one taken prisoner. The forces of the Resistance Front had two dead and one wounded.
Despite heavy losses, the Taliban launched three offensive campaigns during the month. The Resistance Front forces defended and retreated.
On September 10, the Taliban launched a large-scale operation to suppress the forces of the Resistance Front by sending 2,000 militants and terrorists equipped with light and heavy weapons, under the command of Mullah Qayyum Zakir. They were met by the forces of the Resistance Front under the command of General Amin Hisaraki, Haji Malikkhan, Haji Khanjar, and Mohammadyar of Shaba. This conflict lasted four days. As a result, the Resistance Front lost 78 fighters, and the Taliban - 280. Dozens of Taliban were injured.
Among the dead were the commanders of the Resistance Front Haji Malikkhan, Haji Khanjar, Muhammadyar of Shaba, and others. With the death of these commanders, four camps of the Resistance Front were simultaneously paralyzed - Dara, Obshor, Shaba, and Khesarak. But the remnants of the forces of these bases are still present in the scene and are updating their forces.
TALIBAN WAR CRIMES IN DARA
Since May, the Taliban have been committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Dara that cannot be compared to any modern war. They killed civilians, raped women, teenagers, and children, arrested and tortured, forcibly moved civilians, shot captives without trial or investigation, and committed other crimes, which we will discuss below.
1 - Killing civilians:
On May 8 of this year, the Taliban, with their 10,000-strong troops, while advancing into the Abdullakhel valley, shot 22 civilians who had nothing to do with the Resistance Front. Among those killed were two 11-year-olds named Karzai and Sherzai, children of Golmahmud, and a girl named Lailuma bint Fathkhan, strangled with her headscarf after being raped, from the village of Tundkhu, Dara district. On the same day, the Taliban shot and killed a young civilian named Khalid, son of Abdulrauf, in the village of Qalai Tarkha.
On August 6, during a large-scale operation against commander Haji Malikkhan, the Taliban shot and killed a girl named Farahnaz, daughter of Mirbacha from the village of Khoja in the Abdallahel Valley after raping her. On August 8, the Taliban arrested two civilians named Sherahmadkhan, son of Fazlurrahman, and Sherhamza, son of Khanzala, near their homes and then shot them.
On September 1, the Taliban took a civilian named Khalilurrahman, son of Rahimkhan, out of his house at night and shot him in front of his house. On September 11, the Taliban shot and killed a young man named Mushtaq, the son of Muallimkhan, a resident of the village of Tambana, on the main road of Panjshir.
On October 7, the Taliban arrested and brutally tortured two civilians who had gone to the mountains to herd their pets. As a result of torture and beatings, they died. These people named Gulamishan, son of Muhammad Amirkhan, and Nurmuhammad, son of Aliahmad, were residents of the village of Manjanastu of the Abdullakhel valley.
In just six months, the Taliban killed 30 civilians and wounded 14.
2 - Forced marriage, rape, and abuse of women:
As mentioned above, on May 8, the Taliban raped a girl named Lailuma, Fathkhan's daughter, and then killed her. On August 6, the Taliban entered a residential building in the village of Khoja in the Abdullakhel Valley and raped a girl named Farkhanaz, the daughter of Mirbacha, and then shot her dead.
On June 30, the Taliban proposed to a widow named Gulshan, who lives in the village of Khoja in the Abdullakhel Valley, and after rejecting their proposal, they beat and tortured her, as a result of which her arms and ribs were broken.
On August 10, the Taliban proposed to a widow named Manizha, the daughter of Khudayarkhan, a resident of the village of Larband in the Abdullakhel valley, but when they refused, they raped her.
On August 11, the Taliban proposed to a young girl named Gulchehra, the daughter of Gulmuhammadkhan. As a result of pressure, her family was forced to agree. They took her and left. On the same day, the Taliban broke into the house of a widow named Gulshan, daughter of Abdusalam, at night and raped her.
On September 4, the Taliban broke into the houses of Pasgaran villagers at night, broke down the doors of three houses, and sexually abused women and girls. On October 16, the Taliban forcibly married a young girl named Farimah, the daughter of Sikander, and took her away.
3 - Sexual abuse against teenagers and children:
On May 8, when the Taliban entered the village of Abdullakhel, they arrested six children who fled to the mountains and sexually abused them. The names of these children are Farhad, son of Babashah, Tariq, son of Mirzashah, Mohammad Alam, son of Abdullajan, Qiyamuddin, son of Abdulhakim, Abdurahman, son of Habiburrahman, Afsar, son of Mohammad Hashim. All were residents of the Abdullakhel village of the Dara district.
On August 3, the Taliban arrested three teenagers on the road leading to the mountain, later took them away in an unknown direction, and raped them. The condition of one of the children became extremely serious. These children are 11-year-old Khairulla, the son of Mohammad Kazem, 13-year-old Khattab, the son of Makhtabuddin, and 16-year-old Farshad, the son of Sheragha. All residents of the village of Khoja in the Abdullakhel valley.
On October 12, the Taliban arrested two children named Suhail, son of Fathkhan, and Shaheen, son of Sohrab from the local mosque and took them with them. They were found a week later in the house of Marshal Fahim, located in the Hinj district. Both were sexually assaulted. They were not more than ten years old, and they are residents of the village of Manjanastu in the Abdallahel valley.
4 - Arrest, beating, and torture of civilians:
On May 8, the Taliban arrested 125 civilians from the village of Abdullakhel, placed them in a village market container for two weeks, and tortured them every day. On September 5, the Taliban broke into the homes of residents of the village of Kansar in the Abdullakhel Valley at night, arrested 35 civilians, and took them to the cathedral mosque, where they severely beat and tortured them.
On September 16, the Taliban arrested 250 civilians from villages in the Abdullakhel Valley, then tortured and beat them and released each of them in exchange for money or weapons.
In general, statistics so far show that the Taliban have arrested two to five civilians every week, tortured and beaten them, and always released them in exchange for money or weapons. Civilians are regularly arrested and tortured. Within 7 months, about 70 civilians of the Abdullakhel valley were imprisoned in the village of Dashtak. Most of them were gradually released through the mediation of local elders. Currently, 15 of these people are in prison.
5 - Destruction of residential buildings:
On May 8, the Taliban set fire to six residential buildings as part of a crackdown on the Resistance Front and took food and livelihoods from those homes. These houses are located in Kansar village of Abdullakhel valley. On the same day, the Taliban destroyed two houses in the village of Marjan in the same valley with heavy weapons and set fire to all their property.
On August 6, the Taliban set fire to three houses belonging to members of the Resistance Front in the village of Khoja in the Abdullakhel Valley and took food and livelihood from those houses.
6 - Forced eviction of civilians:
When the Taliban entered the Abdullakhel valley, they turned people's houses into posts and moved their intelligence group to houses located in the mountains. They are still in the same houses. Within seven months, the Taliban forcibly evicted about 280 families from the villages of the Dara district, the statistics of which are as follows: Khoja - 50, Khonakhel - 3, Larband - 10, Arghuch - 8, Mohammadbegkhel - 25, Marjon - 8, Ghanikhel - 4, Dehpitav - 40, Manjanastu - 35, Kansar - 10, Maidankah - 15, Tundkhu - 27, Pasgaran - 17, Kiraman - 27. These families have left their homes and are now wandering around Kabul in uncertainty and with many problems. The Taliban occupied their homes.
7 - The massacre of captives;
On September 13, commander Mohammadyar Shaba and 15 of his soldiers were arrested and then shot. On September 14, commanders Haji Malikkhan and Haji Khanjar were arrested and then shot, along with 63 of their soldiers. Video footage of the massacre of prisoners of war was broadcast by the Taliban themselves in the media but did not evoke any reaction from human rights organizations and Western media. Although these organizations and media launched a large-scale propaganda campaign after the assassination of Mahsa Amini in Iran, which caused the largest protests in the history of this country.
Current situation
Now there is a Taliban battalion of 800 militants in the Dara district. Twelve posts (outposts) operate throughout Abdullakhel. After their offensive campaign on May 8, the Taliban forced residents to relocate and their homes were turned into outposts.
Now more than forty families of the commanders of the Taliban movement and foreign terrorist organizations, such as Al-Qaeda, Jaish-e-Mohammad, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Taliban, Hizb ut-Tahrir, and others have settled in the homes of residents of the Dara district. According to reports, a large base of foreign terrorist organizations led by al-Qaeda is to be established in the Abdullakhel valley of the Dara region.
Thus, the Dara region has become a safe haven for the Taliban and foreign terrorist organizations.
