RASC News Agency: The Afghanistan Human Rights Defenders Committee has urgently called upon the international community, human rights organizations, the UNAMA office, and the International Committee of the Red Cross in Kabul to take immediate action for the release of Jawid Kohistani, a prominent political and military analyst. The committee denounced the recent wave of Taliban arrests as a clear indicator of increasing repression in Afghanistani society.
On Thursday, September 26, Taliban intelligence forces apprehended Jawid Kohistani in the Sarai Shamali area of Kabul. According to reports from the Afghanistan Human Rights Defenders Committee, Kohistani has been subjected to torture in one of the Taliban’s intelligence directorates. The committee, in its statement, expressed grave concern: “The Taliban’s strategy of cultivating an atmosphere of fear, restricting freedom of expression, monopolizing information, and engaging in both social and physical repression of the country’s intellectuals, represents an alarming escalation.”
The committee further urged the Taliban to uphold Afghanistan’s international obligations regarding the protection of civil and political rights, warning against worsening the already dire human rights situation. Before the Taliban’s rise to power, Kohistani frequently appeared on television debates, providing expert analysis on political and military issues. He is one of the few political figures who remained in Afghanistan after August 2021. During the past three years, he traveled to Pakistan once for medical treatment. Despite his reduced political activity, Kohistani has not escaped the Taliban’s grasp. To date, the Taliban have not issued an official statement regarding his arrest.
