Taliban Detains Vocal Critic Cleric Abdul Qadir Qanit In Kabul

The Taliban has once again detained Mawlawi Abdul Qadir Qanit, a prominent religious scholar and vocal critic of the group.

Sources close to Qanit confirmed to Afghanistan International that Taliban intelligence forces detained him from his residence in Kabul.

According to the sources, Qanit is currently being held at the Taliban’s Intelligence Directorate 40. He has reportedly managed to make a brief phone call to his family since his detention.

The reason for his detention has not yet been made public by the Taliban. However, a video obtained by Afghanistan International appears to show the arrest. In the footage, plainclothes Taliban members arrive in a civilian vehicle on the street where Qanit’s home is located. The car stops outside his house, and Qanit is seen being escorted from his residence and placed into the vehicle.

Several local residents can be seen in the video standing nearby, though they do not intervene or visibly react to the arrest, which resembles a forced abduction.

The Afghanistan Green Trend, led by former Afghan vice president Amrullah Saleh, also reported the incident on X (formerly Twitter), stating that Qanit was “abducted from his home in Kabul.” The group alleged that a Taliban member named Mullah Sulaiman, affiliated with the group’s 15th District unit, led the operation.

This is not the first time Qanit has been detained by the Taliban. In February 2024, he was previously arrested alongside another cleric, Mahmood Hassan, following a public gathering in Kabul where both criticised the concentration of power within the Kandahar faction of the Taliban and called for the establishment of an inclusive government.

Neither the Taliban nor its intelligence wing has issued an official statement regarding the latest detention of Qanit.