RASC News Agency: In yet another sign of escalating internal fractures within the Taliban, local sources in Panjshir report that a Tajik-origin member of the group has been arrested by the Taliban’s notorious Special Brigade for expressing support for Qari Hamidullah Najrabi, a high-ranking Taliban intelligence official who was recently subjected to violent assault and detention by his own colleagues. The detained individual, Ramesh locally known by the alias “Ishpeshak” is a resident of Tawakh village in Onaba district and reportedly a close ally of Hamid Khorasani, a prominent Taliban figure in Panjshir. According to eyewitness accounts and local informants who spoke with local sources on Tuesday, June 10, Ramesh was apprehended shortly after he condemned the Taliban’s violent treatment of Qari Najrabi, labeling it as an ethnically motivated and unjust act.
Qari Hamidullah Najrabi, the Director of Analysis and Assessment within the Taliban’s General Directorate of Intelligence, had traveled to Tawakh at the personal invitation of Ramesh to partake in the seasonal mulberry harvest. However, upon entering the village without prior coordination with local Taliban commanders, he was physically assaulted and detained by the Taliban’s Special Brigade, who accused him of violating undisclosed security protocols. In response, Ramesh made direct calls to senior Taliban officials, including Mawlawi Musafir, commander of the Special Brigade, warning them against ethnic bias and condemning what he described as the growing trend of Pashtun dominance within the Taliban’s military hierarchy. His protest, sources confirm, was met with swift retaliation his arrest serving as a stark warning to other non-Pashtun members who might question the regime’s internal conduct.
Analysts suggest that the incident is not isolated but emblematic of a broader pattern of institutionalized ethnic discrimination within the Taliban. Despite claiming to represent a unified Islamic Emirate, the Taliban have consistently marginalized non-Pashtun fighters particularly Tajiks and Hazaras within their ranks, often relegating them to symbolic roles while real power remains tightly held by Pashtun commanders. Ethnic tensions have been particularly pronounced in Panjshir, a historic stronghold of Tajik resistance. Even after the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, the region has remained deeply suspicious of the group’s intentions, and incidents like the arrest of Ramesh only serve to reinforce local perceptions of systemic injustice and occupation under the guise of religious governance.
The assault and arrest of Qari Najrabi, a senior official within the Taliban’s own intelligence apparatus, highlights a disturbing reality: not even those in the upper echelons of the regime are immune from Taliban brutality if they happen to be born into the “wrong” ethnicity. The regime’s attempt to mask its internal fragility with claims of ideological unity is increasingly exposed as ethnic favoritism, internal purges, and factionalism threaten to unravel its hold on power. The Taliban’s iron-fisted suppression of dissent even within its own structures signals a deeper crisis of legitimacy. As the regime tightens its grip through coercion rather than consensus, it continues to alienate not just ordinary citizens but also disillusioned members of its own ranks. The arrest of Ramesh stands as yet another symbol of the Taliban’s failure to evolve from a guerrilla movement into a representative governing body.
Until the regime confronts its own internal rot and abandons the ethnic chauvinism that permeates its leadership, the vision of a stable Afghanistan under Taliban rule will remain nothing more than a dangerous delusion.
