RASC News Agency: A devastating fire erupted late Thursday evening in Herat’s central timber market, located in the densely populated Darb-e-Qandahar district, leaving behind a trail of widespread destruction and triggering renewed scrutiny over the Taliban’s mismanagement of urban safety and emergency response systems. According to multiple local sources, the blaze began shortly before midnight and rapidly engulfed a cluster of woodworking shops and timber storage warehouses, sending thick plumes of smoke billowing across the city skyline. The flames quickly spread to at least two major timber garages, prompting panic among merchants and residents in one of Herat’s most critical commercial zones.
Eyewitnesses described a harrowing scene, as the fire fueled by flammable materials and exacerbated by a total lack of fire-safety infrastructure raged uncontrollably for hours. “There was no plan, no system, no immediate response,” said one shop owner who watched his business burn. “We were left completely on our own.” Initial reports suggest that while no fatalities have been confirmed, the financial toll on local shopkeepers has been immense. Several businesses some family-owned for generations have been reduced to ashes, and inventory losses run into hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to early estimates provided by merchant associations.
However, what has sparked the most public outrage is not just the fire itself, but the Taliban’s slow and disorganized response. Local residents and eyewitnesses have accused Taliban emergency services of arriving late to the scene, poorly equipped, and visibly uncoordinated, failing to contain the blaze in its early stages. By the time fire brigades attempted to intervene, much of the damage had already been done. “The firefighters showed up with outdated hoses, barely any water pressure, and no clear command,” said one eyewitness. “It was a tragedy compounded by incompetence.” Herat residents are now demanding answers, as Taliban officials have remained conspicuously silent, offering neither a public statement nor any preliminary explanation for the cause of the fire. No investigation has been launched, and no official report detailing the scale of damages has been released raising serious concerns over the group’s accountability and administrative capability.
The timber market, one of the busiest and most economically vital centers in western Afghanistan, is a hub that supplies building materials across the region. The destruction of this market not only impacts merchants directly, but also threatens to ripple through an already strained local economy further weakening livelihoods in a province already suffering under Taliban misrule. Urban analysts and former municipal engineers have voiced alarm at the regime’s complete lack of disaster preparedness, pointing to the collapse of essential civil institutions since the Taliban’s return to power. “The Taliban have gutted local governance and replaced it with ideology,” one former official stated. “What we’re witnessing now is the consequence: cities that burn while officials quote decrees.”
Public frustration is deepening, especially as citizens grow increasingly aware of the regime’s inability to provide even the most basic services such as fire prevention, infrastructure oversight, and emergency coordination. The fire in Herat is not an isolated incident, but rather symptomatic of a broader collapse in civic management, fueled by nepotism, underfunding, and the regime’s ideological rigidity. As the smoke clears and the ruins are surveyed, one fact remains undeniable: under Taliban rule, Afghanistan’s cities are not only more vulnerable to disaster but also abandoned in the very moment they need protection the most.
