Arrests, torture, and the elimination of former security personnel, influential figures, and civilians by the Taliban have intensified.
ISTANBUL, November 5 — Sangar, Muhammad Abdullah. Mullah Haibatullah has issued an order that any anti-Taliban sentiments and forces should be suppressed and eliminated. This order was issued several months ago, and its implementation began in October of this year.
It is reported that the Taliban leader has formed a 120,000-strong force from students of religious schools to suppress any voice calling for justice that rises against the ruling group. This force, which receives orders directly from Mullah Haibatullah himself, is granted the authority to arrest, torture, and conduct field (extrajudicial) trials of those accused of opposing the Taliban group in all provinces.
The order to suppress and eliminate any anti-Taliban views is part of the Taliban’s long-term terrorist and intimidating programs, under which, from time to time, citizens are persecuted under various pretexts of repression. To implement this order, a new department called “Directorate 08” has been established within the structure of the group’s General Directorate of Intelligence. The code name for this program’s implementation is “AB,” which stands for “Antibiotic.”
Provincial intelligence directorates, central and provincial security command centers, as well as all their camps and subordinate units, are required to cooperate in implementing the plans of Directorate 08.
Arrests of citizens and former security personnel under the label “enemies of the Emirate” began on the first Wednesday of October 2025 in Kabul city, in the northern districts of Kabul, in Parwan, Kapisa, and Panjshir provinces, in the Andarab and Nahrin districts, in districts of Baghlan province, in Mazar-i-Sharif city, in the Sancharak and Kohistan districts of Sar-e-Pul province, in Kohistan, Bilcharagh, Pashtunkot, Khwaja Sabzposh, Gurziwan, and Almar districts of Faryab province, in Qadis and Jawand districts of Badghis province, in Tulak, Shahrak, Pasaband, Taywara districts and Firozkoh city of Ghor province, in Herat city, Zaranj city, Jalalabad city, and the Arghun district of Paktika province. Among the arrested are also some influential individuals and representatives of provincial councils.
According to several reports, after Pakistan’s offensive on Kabul and the southern provinces, the arrest process slowed down slightly, but in the past ten days, it has intensified again.
It is noteworthy that in this large-scale campaign of arrests and torture, the Taliban do not limit themselves only to those considered direct opponents: they also repress local influential people and those who have social respect and authority, so that no capacity for resistance against the Taliban remains among the population.
In recent days, in several locations, two people were shot in the Roh district of Badakhshan province; Muhammad Kamin in the Farhor district of Takhar province; Muhammad Shu’aib in Panjshir province; Commander Sher Muhammad was wounded in Sheberghan city, and his brother was killed. Dawood Wahdat and Mosaddeq Ghaffari were shot in Daykundi province. Ishaq Alizoda was killed in Ghazni province; the Taliban handed over several tortured bodies from prisons to their families and prohibited the families of the deceased from reporting the torture and deaths of their relatives in the media.
Directorate 08 is also authorized to carry out this program outside of Afghanistan. There are credible reports that in recent months, several agents and terrorists linked to this directorate have been sent to neighboring countries to eliminate Taliban opponents.
