RASC News Agency: Local sources in Badakhshan confirm that Taliban forces have summarily executed four residents who had protested against the extraction of gold from a local mine. According to these sources, the victims were first detained by Taliban militants before being executed by firing squad. A reliable source stated that the slain individuals were local miners who had been working at the site and had raised objections over the Taliban-controlled companies’ exploitation of the gold reserves. Their bodies were discovered later that night. The source identified the victims as Baba Jan, Quddus, Sarakhan, and Sher Mohammad, residents of the villages of Khorda Kalan, Awez, and Sholiz, located in the Shahr-e Bozorg and Yawan districts of Badakhshan.
Another source confirmed that the execution took place on the night of February 7 in an area particularly rich in gold deposits. Local residents believe the Taliban staged the killings to appear as though they were carried out by unidentified armed groups, a deliberate tactic to intimidate the local population and seize control of the region’s gold mines. Taliban forces have previously committed extrajudicial killings in areas where they seek to consolidate control over Afghanistan’s mineral wealth. On February 10, hundreds of residents of Chah Ab district in Takhar province took to the streets, protesting what they described as the plundering of gold mines and the destruction of farmlands by “anonymous companies”. Demonstrators accused the Taliban of deliberate inaction and complicity in these exploitative operations, while simultaneously using force and intimidation to suppress public outcry.
In recent months, the Taliban have intensified gold mining operations in northeastern Afghanistan, deploying companies linked to their leadership to expedite the extraction of precious minerals. The group has already brokered several mining contracts with Chinese firms, granting them exclusive rights to extract gold and other valuable resources from Takhar and Badakhshan.
