RASC News Agency: Local reports from Panjshir indicate that the Taliban have deliberately set fire to a forested mountain in the province. The fire ignited on Tuesday, October 15, in the Tunba village of Dara District at approximately 1:00 PM and continued to burn until late into the night, when local residents finally managed to extinguish it.
According to these sources, the Taliban initiated the fire under the pretext of addressing security threats and expanding their field of view. So far, the group has made no official statement regarding the incident. This act adds to a series of destructive actions in Panjshir, where previously, the Taliban torched the homes of Fazel Ahmad Manawi, the former Minister of Justice, and Zahir Aghbar, Afghanistan’s Ambassador to Tajikistan. They also burned down at least five schools and the office buildings of the provincial Directorate of Education.
While Taliban officials in Panjshir have downplayed these events, labeling them as “accidents” or due to the “carelessness” of their fighters, residents accuse the group of deliberately engaging in “vengeful” actions. These acts of destruction follow a pattern long associated with military occupations and scorched-earth tactics. This echoes the Soviet Red Army’s strategies during their invasion of Afghanistan when vast areas in the northern provinces were decimated. Similarly, during their first regime, the Taliban set fire to vineyards in northern Afghanistan, reducing the region to a barren wasteland.
Now, the Taliban are revisiting these brutal strategies, burning Panjshir’s forests in fear of the resistance fighters who continue to challenge their authority. In the aftermath of such destruction, the group often chants “Allahu Akbar,” cynically labeling their actions as a form of holy struggle or “jihad.”
