RASC News Agency: Local sources in the northern Afghanistani province of Takhar report that Kamin Jan, a former bodyguard of the late General Dawood Dawood the former Commander of the 303 Pamir Police Zone, Deputy Minister for Counter-Narcotics at the Interior Ministry, and one of the closest comrades of Ahmad Shah Massoud, Afghanistan’s national hero was brutally assassinated on Friday evening in the Chashma-Garmak area of Farkhar district by unidentified armed men.
Although the Taliban’s provincial authorities have issued no formal comment, several local residents and eyewitnesses told RASC News that the assailants are believed to be Taliban militants operating under local commanders who have, over the past three years, conducted a wave of revenge-driven assassinations against former government soldiers, intelligence agents, and officials. These targeted killings are often carried out under the pretext of operations by “unknown gunmen” a term widely used by the Taliban to conceal their direct involvement and escape international scrutiny.
According to residents, the incident is part of a larger, systematic pattern of silent purges taking place across northern Afghanistan under Taliban rule. Since retaking power in August 2021, the group has sought not only to eliminate potential opposition but also to erase the legacy and influence of the former republic’s security and administrative structure.
Kamin Jan’s death adds to an ever-growing list of extrajudicial executions that have unfolded across the country under Taliban control. Reports from Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and other global watchdogs have meticulously documented a campaign of abductions, torture, and summary executions of former Afghanistani soldiers, police officers, and intelligence operatives. Despite repeated international condemnation, the Taliban have neither acknowledged nor investigated a single case, perpetuating an atmosphere of fear and absolute impunity.
International media investigations have revealed that the Taliban’s much-publicized “general amnesty” announced shortly after their seizure of Kabul has functioned in reality as a calculated deception. Former members of the military and civil service who believed the assurances of safety and returned from exile or hiding were subsequently tracked down, detained, and executed. Families who dared to inquire about their missing relatives were intimidated into silence or threatened with arrest.
Two weeks before this latest killing, the body of another young man, reportedly a former soldier of the previous government, was found in the Darqad district of Takhar. Local residents say that Taliban officials made no attempt to investigate the case, reflecting an unspoken policy of state-sanctioned denial. The growing number of such killings, they warn, has created a pervasive climate of fear, forcing many survivors and witnesses to flee the province or abandon their homes.
Security analysts argue that these incidents are not isolated acts of local revenge, but rather a deliberate campaign to extinguish any remnants of organized resistance and to consolidate the Taliban’s totalitarian control through terror. “The Taliban are not governing they are cleansing,” said one former Afghanistani security expert now living in exile. “By eliminating those who once served the republic, they are dismantling the country’s institutional memory and silencing anyone who represents an alternative to their rule.”
The Taliban’s silence in the face of mounting evidence underscores a deeper moral and political crisis within the regime one that thrives on secrecy, repression, and selective brutality. Analysts note that the group’s reliance on violence to suppress dissent exposes its fundamental insecurity and lack of legitimacy, both domestically and internationally.
Meanwhile, as the international community remains preoccupied with other global conflicts, Afghanistan continues to slide further into authoritarian darkness. Under Taliban rule, law has been replaced by decree, justice by revenge, and governance by fear. The killing of former security personnel like Kamin Jan serves as a chilling reminder that, for many in Afghanistan, the war never truly ended it merely changed its uniform.
