RASC News Agency: Local sources in Sar-e Pol province in northern Afghanistan have confirmed the brutal execution of a Taliban fighter and a teenage religious student in the recently established Al-Jihad district, a grim episode emblematic of the ongoing cycle of targeted violence and internal strife plaguing Taliban-controlled territories. The victims have been identified as Abdul Latif, an active member of the Taliban’s military apparatus, and Islamuddin, a young seminary student. Their bodies were discovered charred and discarded beside a rural road within Al-Jihad district over the past two days. Forensic evidence and eyewitness accounts indicate that both were first shot execution-style before their corpses were deliberately set ablaze in a chilling attempt to obliterate evidence.
Local Taliban officials have conspicuously refrained from commenting on the incident, perpetuating a disturbing pattern of silence. Residents assert that such mysterious killings have become a normalized aspect of life under Taliban rule. In most cases, the regime attributes these murders to “unknown gunmen” or refrains from any meaningful disclosure, fostering a climate of fear and impunity. Security experts and human rights organizations attribute a significant number of these incidents to the deep-rooted factional rivalries, personal vendettas, and internecine power struggles within the Taliban’s fractured ranks. Fighters have reportedly targeted comrades over disputes ranging from personal grievances to financial disagreements or trivial altercations, subsequently shifting blame to “anonymous perpetrators” to avoid internal accountability and external condemnation.
However, beyond these internal purges, analysts emphasize the Taliban’s systematic, calculated campaign of assassinations against former members of Afghanistan’s previous government and security forces. These targeted killings are routinely obfuscated by labeling them as acts by unidentified assailants, a deliberate tactic designed to shield the regime from international censure over its escalating human rights abuses and war crimes. Human rights organizations have repeatedly sounded alarms, warning that the Taliban’s covert executions, coupled with institutionalized secrecy and obfuscation, constitute a clear and deliberate pattern of political retribution and gross human rights violations. These acts, carried out with near impunity since the Taliban’s violent resurgence, further underscore the regime’s rejection of accountability and justice.
The international community’s persistent failure to hold the Taliban responsible has only emboldened this lethal cycle of violence, eroding prospects for peace and deepening Afghanistan’s descent into lawlessness and oppression. Without robust international pressure and vigilant monitoring, these clandestine killings will continue unabated, perpetuating a climate of terror that stifles dissent and extinguishes hope.
