Escalating Repression in Bamiyan: Taliban Tightens Grip on Residents

Field reports and media findings from Bamiyan province reveal a significant escalation in the street pressures, arbitrary searches, and religious humiliation imposed by the Taliban’s Ministry of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice on the residents in recent weeks.

Increased Intimidation and Violations

These officials have set up multiple search checkpoints at key locations throughout the city, particularly at the Mir Hashim Aqa intersection, halting pedestrians and vehicles alike for humiliating and violent interrogations. Their interventions have even extended to hospitals and private clinics; agents entering these facilities are seen questioning doctors and patients about ideological matters. In several instances, patients have been turned away from receiving medical treatment simply for not wearing masks.

In addition to these pressures, local shopkeepers and tradespeople in Bamiyan have exposed financial abuses and nighttime extortion by the Taliban officials, claiming that after official hours, plainclothesmen threaten to shut down shops or file religious cases against them in exchange for bribes. Investigations suggest that many of these agents hail from specific regions, which, according to civil activist Syed Mohammad Kabir Tabesh from Bamiyan, reflects their ethnic grievances and a vendetta against a community that has historically clashed with them. He pointed out new directives, such as the prohibition of women entering markets without a male guardian in rural areas like Folaadi and Mullah Ghulam, warning that the perpetuation of this cycle of revenge could ignite larger social crises in the region. Local Taliban officials have yet to respond to these allegations.