RASC News Agency: A 16-year-old student was fatally shot by unidentified gunmen in Herat, western Afghanistan, in a chilling incident that underscores the alarming collapse of public security under the Taliban’s so-called administration. The attack took place on Saturday, June 29, in the Razi Township, located in Herat’s 11th municipal district—an area increasingly plagued by unchecked violence and lawlessness. Local sources identified the victim as Ali Mardan, a high school student who was ambushed while returning home from a private education center. Armed assailants reportedly attempted to rob him at gunpoint, demanding his mobile phone. When he resisted, they opened fire and fled the scene. Mardan died instantly as a result of his injuries.
Originally from Kiti district in Daikundi province, Mardan had moved to Herat with his family in pursuit of better educational opportunities dreams that were extinguished in a society now dominated by fear, poverty, and disorder. Taliban authorities in Herat, as of this writing, have neither commented on the killing nor announced any investigation or arrests an omission that has become increasingly common in the group’s ineffective and opaque approach to law enforcement. This latest murder adds to a disturbing trend: a sharp rise in armed robberies and violent crimes across Afghanistan’s urban centers, particularly in Herat, where local residents report a dramatic deterioration in public safety.
The United Nations Secretary-General recently echoed these concerns in a formal report, warning of the significant surge in violent criminal activity including armed theft, extortion, and assaults since the Taliban seized power in 2021. The report cites “widespread impunity, the absence of professional policing, and economic desperation” as primary drivers of this growing crisis. Despite repeated Taliban proclamations that they have brought “peace and stability” to the country, the reality on the ground tells a far darker story. Not only has insecurity increased, but multiple reports and testimonies also suggest that members of Taliban-affiliated units may be complicit in, or directly responsible for, many of these crimes.
Civilians, particularly the youth, are now living in a state of constant anxiety, stripped of both educational opportunities and the basic guarantees of personal safety. In cities like Herat, carrying a mobile phone, walking alone at dusk, or even attending a class has become a dangerous gamble. What was once a brutal war between governments and insurgents has now devolved into an era of silent violence against ordinary citizens violence fueled by institutional collapse, economic misery, and the Taliban’s chronic misrule.
The murder of Ali Mardan is more than a tragedy; it is a grim emblem of a regime that has failed to govern, protect, or even acknowledge the rights and lives of the very people it claims to represent.
