Panjshir Province: A Growing Prison for Its Citizens Amid Taliban Control

Field reports and local sources from Panjshir province indicate that the region has turned into a large and threatening prison for its indigenous residents, with a heavily securitized and oppressive environment completely stripping citizens of their basic rights…

Current Situation in Panjshir

The current circumstances in this mountainous province reveal a blatant violation of residential privacy by Taliban forces, where even small gatherings and conversations between two citizens on the streets are perceived as criminal acts, casting a shadow of mistrust and fear over the daily lives of people. The Taliban have imposed a stringent media censorship policy to prevent the flow of information, banning the use of smartphones in Panjshir. Simultaneously, amid an ongoing economic pressure cycle, they are preventing herders and farmers from taking their livestock to the mountains, a decision that has severed the livelihoods of thousands of families and exacerbated poverty. Analysts believe that these arbitrary detentions, the discovery of unidentified bodies in the streets, and the crippling of the economy go beyond mere security measures. They point to a systematic program aimed at facilitating a “silent forced migration” by making living conditions unbearable for the residents of this province.