RASC News Agency: Local sources in Balkh report that the Taliban have assaulted and detained a student at the Iranian Consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif, the provincial capital. On Monday, September 23, sources confirmed that the student, a resident of Badakhshan, had been attempting to travel to Iran for further studies.
According to reports, guards at the Iranian Consulate assaulted the student with the butt of a rifle following a verbal altercation, and later handed him over to the Taliban for detention. The student had been trying to obtain a visa for over 10 days, but the Taliban repeatedly blocked his entry to the consulate. Currently, there is no information regarding the student’s whereabouts.
Sources further claim that the Taliban are engaging in ethnic and linguistic discrimination against those seeking access to the consulate. Visitors who do not speak Pashto are allegedly denied entry. This tribalistic behavior is particularly evident in Balkh, a region historically recognized as the heart of Persian civilization.
It should be noted that this is not the first instance of reports detailing “misconduct,” including ethnic bias and hostility towards the Persian language, by Taliban fighters toward civilians in government offices. Although the Taliban present themselves as a religious group running an Islamic regime, they remain deeply mired in ethnic prejudice, systematically oppressing non-Pashtun communities, particularly Persian speakers.
