RASC News Agency: The Chief of Staff of the Taliban’s military has announced that 340 young men from various districts of Panjshir and Baghlan provinces have been recruited into the ranks of the Taliban’s army. Fasihuddin Fitrat, the Chief of Staff, referred to the recruitment of these Tajik youths into the Taliban regime as an effort to “preserve the Islamic system” and stated that they have been introduced to a Taliban training center. On Saturday, September 7, the Taliban’s Ministry of Defense published images of Fitrat meeting with these Tajik youths.
According to a statement from the ministry, the Taliban’s Chief of Staff mentioned in his speech that the group has collected the biometric data of all these recruits. Fitrat also emphasized the need to prevent ethnic and linguistic divisions during his remarks. Mohammad Agha Hakim, the Taliban’s governor in Panjshir, previously stated that the group intends to recruit 2,000 individuals from this province into the Taliban’s ranks in the near future. In a report aired by National TV on Wednesday, September 7, the governor said that after recruitment, these 2,000 individuals would be transferred to Kabul.
Panjshir is the birthplace of the National Resistance Front against the Taliban. This front was established on August 15, 2021, coinciding with Ashraf Ghani’s escape, and continues to fight against the Taliban to this day. Despite the Taliban’s claim of recruiting Panjshir youth into its forces, over the past three years, the group has arrested and killed dozens of civilians in the province on various charges. Multiple reports of harassment against local residents have surfaced, and the Taliban has established dozens of military outposts throughout Panjshir. While the Chief of Staff claims that the recruitment of these Tajik youths is aimed at preserving Islamic values and preventing ethnic tensions, the reality is that the Taliban remains an ethnically and tribally driven group that targets non-Pashtun ethnicities and Persian speakers.
Currently, 14,000 Tajiks from Panjshir are imprisoned by the Taliban, and thousands of young Tajiks have been killed by the group. Historical experience has shown that the recruitment of Peshmerga fighters into a regime does not prevent the ethnicization of a country; rather, they often become tools of fascism, used to further oppress and kill their own people.
