RASC News Agency reports: Nasir Ahmad Faiq, the Acting Ambassador of Afghanistan to the United Nations, stated that the protests against the Taliban in Badakhshan and Baghlan reflect “oppression, corruption, crime, violations of privacy, injustice, and the differential treatment of the Taliban toward the people, including non-Pashtun Taliban members.” Faiq wrote on his X account today, Sunday, May 5, that associating and downplaying these protests with poppy cultivation by the Taliban is “an attempt to mislead the Afghanistani people and the international community.”
Faik added, “This dissatisfaction is present among all Afghanistani citizens, and the scope of these protests will gradually expand throughout the provinces.” He emphasized that “the Afghanistani people have never remained silent in the face of oppression, injustice, and ignorance.” In the past two days, residents of Darym and Argo districts in Badakhshan have protested against the Taliban, chanting “Death to the Emirate.”
These protests erupted after Taliban forces fired on civilians when they tried to stop the destruction of poppy fields. At least two civilians were killed due to Taliban gunfire. Some local residents have accused the Taliban of entering their homes without permission and mistreating them. Meanwhile, in Baghlan, the Taliban’s police command arrested a local commander named Mullah Aziz, a Tajik Taliban member, after he criticized what he described as the oppression by the Pashtun Taliban.
Previously, several jihadi leaders and Afghanistani citizens have expressed support for the protests in Badakhshan and see them as a positive sign.
