Surge in Repressive Tactics by Taliban Agents in Bamiyan Raises Alarms

Recent reports from Bamiyan province indicate a significant increase in the aggressive tactics employed by the Ministry for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice agents over the past two weeks. These measures include street pressures, arbitrary searches, and religious humiliation directed at local residents.

The enforcement agents have set up numerous checkpoints in key areas of the city, especially at the Mir Hashim Aqa intersection, where they stop pedestrians and vehicles. This results in humiliating and violent interrogations. Their intrusive operations extend to provincial hospitals and private clinics, where agents question doctors and patients about their beliefs. In some instances, patients have been turned away from medical facilities simply for not wearing masks, depriving them of essential care.

In addition to these pressures, local shopkeepers and tradesmen are speaking out against financial exploitation and nighttime extortion by Taliban officials. They report that after hours, agents in civilian clothing threaten to close down their shops or file religious complaints as a means of demanding bribes. Investigations suggest that many of these agents come from specific areas, which according to civil activist Syed Mohammed Kabir Tabish, are motivated by ethnic grievances and a desire for retribution against communities that previously clashed with them. Tabish has highlighted recent directives, such as the prohibition of women entering markets without a male guardian in the Fooladi and Malaghlam areas, warning that the continuation of this cycle of revenge could ignite larger social crises in the region. Thus far, local Taliban officials have remained silent on these serious allegations.