RASC News Agency: Local sources in Kunar province have confirmed that a young shopkeeper named Najibullah was shot dead by unidentified assailants on Wednesday evening in the Pech Dara district. The killing occurred in the Barkandi area as he returned home from work a brutal reminder of the anarchic violence festering under Taliban rule. Taliban authorities have yet to issue any statement regarding the murder, and the motive remains obscure. This killing is now part of a chilling pattern: over the past week, armed men have claimed at least two civilian lives, and neither has prompted any official inquiry or public clarity.
Four days prior, a female doctor was assassinated near the Taliban’s headquarters in Jalalabad. That case, like Najibullah’s, was attributed to “unknown gunmen” a phrase that has become synonymous with impunity under the current regime. Worsening the crisis, most of these crimes remain uninvestigated. Across Afghanistan, former military personnel, activists, journalists, local merchants, and government figures especially from the previous regime are being systematically targeted. Notable regions include Kabul, Balkh, Faryab, Ghor, and Badakhshan. Security analysts warn that this series of killings cannot be divorced from Taliban complicity. The evidence is damning:
The attacks occur in territories fully controlled by the Taliban. Victims often are critics, influencers, or hold ties to the former government. No suspects have been arrested; investigations are either nonexistent or superficial. Official communications remain sparse, obfuscating public understanding and access to justice.
This sustained campaign of violence is dismantling any sense of security and quashing public dissent across the nation. The killing of Najibullah, a mere shopkeeper, is more than an isolated crime it reflects the structural breakdown of law under a regime that tolerates, if not enables, such brutality. In a land where even silence can be lethal, the most devastating truth is the violence that goes unchecked.
