RASC News Agency: A shopkeeper in Panjshir province has reported that the Taliban subjected him to torture for demanding the repayment of a loan. The shopkeeper, who resides in Bazarak district, ran a grocery store in the local market. According to his testimony, several members of the Taliban had borrowed 300,000 kabuli rupees from him, but when he sought repayment, they accused him of “opposing the regime,” forcibly removed him from his shop, and transported him to an undisclosed location where he was tortured.
The shopkeeper, whose body bears the marks of lashes and bruises, stated that following the assault, he closed his store and was compelled to flee to Kabul. Since the Taliban regained control over Afghanistan, they have imposed immense political, security, economic, and cultural pressures on non-Pashtun citizens, particularly in Panjshir. Over the course of the past two and a half years, the Taliban have detained, tortured, imprisoned, and executed tens of thousands of young Panjshiris. Reports indicate that many of these young men have been transferred from Kabul to prisons in Jalalabad, Kunar, Khost, and Paktia.
While the Taliban claim to uphold Islamic law, their conduct reveals a profound ethnic bias and an unwavering adherence to Pashtunwali traditions, which they enforce under the banner of religion and Sharia, imposing their tribal and ethnic customs on the entire Afghanistani population. The people of Panjshir contend that the oppression they have suffered under the Taliban is unmatched in history, asserting that no previous regime, regardless of its cruelty or irreligiosity, has subjected any community to such brutality.
