RASC News Agency: Reports from the Lal and Sar Jangal districts of Ghor province in western Afghanistan indicate that Taliban forces are compelling the Hazara people, using various pretexts, to submit themselves to their security institutions and demanding both financial and non-financial contributions. An informed source in Ghazni province, preferring anonymity, informed the RASC news agency on Thursday, January 4, stating, “Since the Taliban assumed control, some Hazara elders have perished under brutal detention or torture by members of this group due to their failure to meet their financial demands.”
The source continues, asserting that Taliban security forces have requested elders from various ethnic groups, particularly Hazaras, to peacefully leave the Lal and Sar Jangal districts if they fail to fulfill exorbitant requests. Moreover, the source reveals that, beyond the harsh treatment against the Hazara people, Taliban authorities in the districts of Ghor have identified and detained personnel from the police, army, and security forces. According to the source, the Taliban has even considered providing material privileges to local landlords, passing lawyers, and influential figures to obtain addresses and information about personnel associated with the previous government. The source adds that the current situation is increasingly dire for former security personnel and their families under the surveillance of Taliban individuals in the city and remote districts. The source notes that for the past two years, the fate of those who opposed the Taliban remains uncertain, whether alive or dead.
Simultaneously, another source informed RASC that the Taliban, as part of a large-scale project, has entered Afghanistan, receiving support from some major Western and Eastern countries. According to the source, the Taliban’s project operates on various dimensions, particularly focusing on ethnic cleansing of the Hazara community and ensuring security for some neighboring and regional countries. Furthermore, the source emphasizes that the Taliban, essentially the Second ISIS, have over time transformed their white flags into the black flags of ISIS, pursuing their malevolent objectives. The source asserts that the people of Afghanistan must, at any cost, eradicate the influence of the Taliban and their counterparts from the soil of Afghanistan to restore a peaceful and unified life in the homes of all ethnicities and classes.
However, Arman, a resident of Ghor province, tells RASC that, according to hearsay, the Taliban has taken control of all the prisons that belonged to the Ashraf Ghani government or individuals who were in conflict with the Taliban. He adds that many would prefer death over being in the Taliban’s prisons. Arman explains that upon closer scrutiny, it becomes evident that the number of non-Pashtun ethnicities in Taliban prisons is negligible compared to Pashtun individuals responsible for numerous acts of violence and crimes. Nevertheless, Hesab Barat Rajabi, a civil activist in western Afghanistan, affirms that the oppression and injustice of Taliban individuals extend across the entire innocent population. He adds that, aside from their Pashtun ethnicity, the Taliban pay no attention to other ethnicities in Afghanistan, causing numerous problems for them daily.
Rajabi states that many Afghanistani ethnic groups lack the capability to leave the country or remain in this abnormal situation, where dozens of defenseless individuals lose their lives daily under the tortures of Taliban members. He adds that leaders and officials from the previous government, who held high-ranking positions, have distanced themselves, leaving those individuals who sacrificed their lives for them at the mercy of Taliban oppression. Taliban authorities in Ghor province have not commented on these matters.
It is worth noting that from the very beginning, the Taliban declared their first actions as the pretext for identifying and detaining security forces, the defense force of the republic, which proved futile and empty. They announced that through this means, they could bring many individuals pursuing them under their torture to their deaths.
