The Taliban regime continues to tighten its grip over Afghanistan with a new wave of house-to-house raids and arrests, targeting former military and security officials in a campaign that reflects its blatant disregard for law, due process, and human rights.
In Tarinkot, the capital of Uruzgan province, Taliban forces have been systematically searching the homes of ex-soldiers, police officers, and intelligence personnel. Local sources confirmed that at least eight former members of the army, police, and national security forces have been detained in the past week under vague accusations of possessing “illegal weapons.”
Residents report that Taliban fighters interrogate family members, terrorise neighbourhoods, and seize private property under the guise of “security operations.” In one raid in the Kherokarez area, a former government official’s home was stormed, and the resident arrested. The Taliban’s Ministry of Interior later claimed to have seized several AK-47 rifles, an M-16, pistols, radio communication devices, and a night-vision scope, promising that the detainees would be handed to “judicial authorities” — a hollow assurance in a country where the judiciary operates entirely under Taliban control.
This crackdown comes amid a wider campaign of retribution against those affiliated with the former Afghan Republic, a campaign that intensified both before and after the UK’s data leaks, which exposed sensitive details about Afghans who had supported international and coalition forces. Since then, former officials have been relentlessly hunted, detained, or executed in blatant violation of the Taliban’s so-called amnesty pledge of 2021.
Just weeks ago, the brutality of this campaign was laid bare when Mohebullah Mirzad Bandari, a former member of the Faryab Provincial Council and ex-commander aligned with Marshal Abdul Rashid Dostum, was gunned down in broad daylight in Maimana on July 18 or 19. Human rights groups have repeatedly warned that forced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and intimidation of families are now routine under Taliban rule, further erasing any illusion of security or justice in Afghanistan.
Despite international criticism, the Taliban’s authoritarian regime continues to target ex-security personnel with impunity, signaling to the Afghan people and the world that promises of amnesty and lawful governance were nothing more than political theatre.
