RASC News Agency: Local sources in Takhar report that unidentified gunmen have murdered a doctor in the provincial capital. The incident reportedly occurred on the night of Saturday, November 16, in the Shurtepa Lattaband area of Taloqan city. The victim, identified as Dr. Yousuf, was fatally shot, though the motives behind the killing and the identities of the perpetrators remain unknown. Taliban officials in Takhar have yet to release a statement regarding the incident.
The emergence and growing presence of these so-called “unknown gunmen” across Afghanistan’s provinces have sparked alarm. These groups, carrying out targeted killings on a near-daily basis, challenge the Taliban’s persistent claims of absolute security in the country. Despite the Taliban’s denial of the existence of rival armed groups, recent months have seen a surge in assassinations, with virtually no day passing without reports of such incidents.
Analysts argue that the Taliban are far from a unified entity. In addition to internal factions driven by conflicting ideologies and agendas, numerous foreign terrorist groups operate within Afghanistan under the Taliban’s tacit support, receiving financial, political, and intelligence backing. For many citizens and even some Taliban members these groups remain largely “unknown” due to their clandestine operations and lack of public recognition.
Evidence also suggests that when Taliban commanders or fighters wish to eliminate specific individuals, they often delegate such tasks to foreign terrorist allies. These operatives, acting under the guise of “unknown gunmen,” carry out the assassinations, effectively obscuring responsibility and further destabilizing an already fragile security landscape. The pervasive violence underscores a troubling reality: while the Taliban publicly claim to be the sole authority ensuring law and order, the shadowy network of operatives linked to their regime continues to perpetrate unchecked violence, leaving ordinary Afghanistanis trapped in fear and uncertainty.
