Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban’s spokesperson, said Tuesday that more than 20,000 religious schools, or madrasas, operating under the Ministry of Education are currently active across Afghanistan. He added this about 2.5 million students enrolled in religious studies.
Speaking at a jihadi school in Kandahar province, Mujahid said the Taliban have placed significant emphasis on religious and jihadi education since returning to power.
He also claimed that the authorities have paid attention to modern education, saying about 12 million students are “engaged in learning modern subjects” in schools across the country. Mujahid added that the Taliban have “reformed” the national school curriculum, without providing details.
Since seizing power, the Taliban have prioritised the construction and expansion of jihadi schools, mosques and religious institutions nationwide.
International organisations and human rights groups have expressed concern over the rapid growth of these schools, warning that they risk promoting extremism.
The Afghanistan Human Rights Center said in a recent study that the expansion of Taliban-run jihadi schools has “negative and dangerous” effects on the thinking of young people.
The study, published last year, said the Taliban have altered school curricula and removed several key subjects. It also warned that the number of jihadi schools may be higher than official figures suggest.
According to the findings, the Taliban have built at least one large jihadi school in each province, equipped with extensive facilities and dormitories capable of housing up to 2,000 people. Additional jihadi schools have also been established in many district centres.
In Kunduz province alone, the study said, four large jihadi schools and about 800 religious schools have been established over the past three years.
Meanwhile, the Taliban have kept schools above the sixth grade and universities closed to girls for more than four years, a policy that has drawn widespread international condemnation.
The documents show that these killings were not isolated incidents but part of a systematic pattern of violence carried out on the orders of Taliban intelligence and security officials, using state-issued weapons and conducted during official duty.
This report examines the details of several specific cases that further illustrate the scale and nature of this deadly pattern. Afghanistan International obtained the videos and documents through sources inside Taliban institutions in Herat, Samangan and Baghlan.
At least five videos containing confessions by perpetrators of targeted killings were reviewed, along with a set of official documents and internal reports from Taliban authorities relating to these murders.
The orders for the killings were issued by Taliban intelligence and security officials, and the perpetrators carried out the murders using government-issued weapons while on official duty.
Video confessions show that many victims were killed without proper investigation, often based solely on rumours, accusations of “espionage” or financial motives.
The investigation also shows that even in cases where perpetrators from within Taliban ranks were identified and detained, the authorities concealed the cases and failed to provide transparent information to the public.
In several cases, the killers were released after arrest without a fair trial, following pressure on victims’ families to sign forgiveness letters and accept blood money.
These cases demonstrate that the pattern of targeted killings continues amid the absence of justice, widespread impunity and the collapse of an independent judicial process in Taliban-run Afghanistan, while the authorities fail to explain these crimes to the public.
Three Taliban Members Kill a Money Changer in Herat
Afghanistan International has obtained videos showing two Taliban members confessing to the killing of Ahmad Shah Noori, a money changer who was murdered about 40 days earlier in Herat.
On Wednesday, December 3, 2025, Noori was travelling with his family in his car on the Herat–Gulran district road when two armed men on a motorcycle stopped the vehicle, forced him out and shot him dead.
The killing took place in front of his family members.
Taliban Intelligence Officer Ordered the Killing
Findings by Afghanistan International show that the order to kill was issued by Gul Agha, head of a Taliban intelligence unit in Badghis province.
Documents from Taliban authorities indicate that at least three Taliban members were involved in planning and carrying out the assassination: Gul Agha issued the order, while two others, identified as Aziz Nusrat and Najmuddin, carried out the operation using government-issued weapons.
Forty days after the killing, Afghanistan International obtained videos showing the planner of the attack and one of the perpetrators confessing to the murder.
In the first video, Gul Agha, son of Nasruddin and a resident of Omarzai village in Badghis, admits that “five or six months earlier” he planned the killing of Ahmad Shah with Aziz Nusrat, a Taliban intelligence employee. Speaking in Pashto, he says he provided Aziz Nusrat with a motorcycle to carry out the killing.
He adds: “Now I confess that Ahmad Shah has been killed.”
He also says he promised Aziz Nusrat one million Afghanis as a reward, to be paid 20 days after the killing.
Aziz Nusrat determined that Ahmad Shah Noori frequently travelled in Gulran district of Herat. He then selected a Taliban soldier named Najmuddin, officially stationed at the Kamarkalagh checkpoint at the Herat–Gulran gate, to carry out the killing.
Statement of the Shooter
In a video confession, Najmuddin says Aziz Nusrat called him to discuss the assassination of the Herat money changer.
Najmuddin says Aziz Nusrat told him at the prison office that Ahmad Shah Noori had previously attacked the Taliban and that he had officially received an order from the Taliban administration to kill him. He offered Najmuddin 300,000 Afghanis to carry out the murder.
Najmuddin says he and Aziz Nusrat ambushed the victim along the road and killed him.
“We stood in a flat area. Then they [Ahmad Shah and his family] passed by us in their car. We followed them from behind on the motorcycle, and finally I killed him,” he said.
Najmuddin said he fired three or four bullets at Ahmad Shah Noori.
He confirmed that he killed Noori with his own weapon while serving as a Taliban security officer at the Kamarkalagh checkpoint during official working hours.
Killing of a Tribal Elder in Samangan
A tribal elder from Khuram wa Sarbagh district of Samangan province, Mohammad Akbar Niazi, was abducted on Thursday, May 8, 2025, from Aybak, the provincial capital.
Niazi left his home after receiving a phone call. Four armed men abducted him from outside his house, and he never returned. He was the head of a local council and a well-known horse breeder in Samangan.
Two days later, on Saturday evening, May 19, 2025, his bullet-riddled body was found in the Kipna-Garcha mountains of Samangan.
Friends and relatives told Afghanistan International that the armed men lured Niazi out of his home under the pretext of attending a meeting.
They said at least six bullets struck his body and that signs of torture were visible.
Relatives said he had no personal enemies. He had served as a local council head and neighbourhood representative under the previous government, and one of his sons had worked in the provincial finance office.
Trail Leads to Taliban Intelligence
Afghanistan International obtained an official letter from the Taliban Ministry of Interior’s crime department showing that Niazi was killed with a pistol belonging to a Taliban member.
Following the incident, the Taliban detained at least three of their members in connection with the killing: two intelligence officers, Ghulam Sakhi (known as Osama) and Abdul Saboor Sirat, and Naqibullah, head of the Taliban police workshop in Samangan.
Official documents show that Taliban intelligence seized a Makarov pistol with serial number XAM3998, along with magazines, ammunition and personal items belonging to Ghulam Sakhi.
Ballistic examinations confirmed that all recovered casings and bullets were fired from the same seized pistol and that the weapon had been previously used.
The final conclusion of the Taliban Interior Ministry’s criminal department stated that all evidence proved the shooting was carried out with the Makarov pistol bearing serial number XAM3998, which was used to kill Mohammad Akbar Niazi.
Two Killed in Baghlan, Killers Later Released
In the August, two members of a family in Baghlan province, Hikmatullah and Gul Mohammad, uncle and nephew, were shot dead.
Sources said a Taliban member named Mawlawi Majid had ordered the killing of another individual, but the Taliban members assigned to carry out the assassination mistakenly killed the two men instead.
Afghanistan International reviewed graphic images of the victims’ bodies and at least three additional videos in which Taliban members confessed to the killings.
Hamdullah’s Confession
Hamdullah, also known as Moatasem, son of Mohammadullah and a Taliban commander in Baghlan, confessed in a video that he was involved in the killing of Hikmatullah. He said he participated in the killing, but others were responsible for killing Gul Mohammad.
During the video, he states that he carried out the killing “with the permission of Mawlawi Sahib and the commission.”
He said the order came from individuals named Musa and Mawlawi Majid in the Taliban commission and that they asked him to carry out the killing secretly so no one would find out.
He added that he fired three bullets at Hikmatullah and said, “I didn’t know afterward whether he survived or died.”
He also said he was not involved in the killing of Gul Mohammad.
A voice of another Taliban member is heard in the video, stating that witnesses confirmed Hamdullah’s involvement in Hikmatullah’s killing.
“I Participated in the Killing to Earn Merit”
Hanzala, son of Shamsuddin and a resident of Pul-e-Khumri in Baghlan province, confessed to killing Gul Mohammad.
A Taliban commander armed with two weapons and leading three men, Hanzala said he received the weapons from someone named Akhundzada Majid.
He said: “I was assigned to kill Gul. I fired at the first person but missed. Later, Musa held him firmly, and I shot him.”
Regarding his motive, Hanzala said he had heard the victim was a “spy.” According to him, “Two Mujahideen named Musa and Hamdullah told me these were security personnel. Come, let’s kill him. I asked if they had witnesses or documentation. They said Mawlawi Majid from the commission told them to kill them, but it must be done secretly so that no one finds out.”
Hanzala emphasized that he took part in the killing to “earn religious merit.”
In a separate video, Hamdullah accused a member of the Taliban Purge Commission in Baghlan of ordering the killing. He said Mawlawi Musa told him to kill the person but keep it secret so no one would know or accuse him of murder. Musa denied issuing the order, saying: “One is permission, one is advice!”
Hamdullah said Musa told him at a madrasa that the person was a spy and should be killed secretly so no one would find out. He said he was ready to swear on the Quran. Musa claimed Hamdullah killed the victim for personal reasons.
Sources in Baghlan said Musa managed to escape after these accusations, and the Taliban have not provided information about his arrest.
Taliban Negotiate Pardon With the Victim’s Family
Afghanistan International obtained information showing that the Taliban released those involved in the killings of Hikmatullah and Gul Mohammad.
Sources said the Taliban asked the victims’ families to sign a pardon letter in exchange for blood money and reportedly threatened them not to speak to the media.
Radio Television Afghanistan reported that the dispute was resolved in a public gathering through “peace and reconciliation” and that the killer’s family paid 2.5 million Afghanis as compensation.
According to the report, Mullah Mohammad Yunus Mokhles, an adviser to Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, facilitated the pardon. He said he tried to persuade the victims’ children, but they were unwilling. Elders later decided that Hanzala’s family would pay the compensation. Abdulmatin, a member of Hanzala’s family, thanked the adviser for facilitating Hanzala’s release.
Conclusion
This report shows that targeted assassinations after August 2021 were not isolated incidents but part of a systematic pattern of violence, abuse of power and secrecy within the Taliban, an approach that has led to widespread human rights violations and heightened fear in society.
The intervention of senior Taliban officials to free killers, replacing judicial trials with jirgas and monetary settlements, and eliminating legal processes reflects the institutionalisation of impunity.
Targeted and retaliatory killings since August 2021 are among the most serious and persistent human rights violations in Afghanistan. These killings often occurred secretly, without transparent legal accountability and in an environment of fear and impunity.
Former Afghan security personnel, ethnic and religious minorities such as Ismailis, residents of Panjshir, local leaders, civil society activists, journalists and Taliban opponents have been primary victims. In many cases, victims were killed after prior threats or summons to Taliban institutions.
Human rights organisations and victims’ families consider the Taliban the main actor or directly responsible for these killings. The United Nations has repeatedly stated that the Taliban violated the “general amnesty” decree issued by their leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, with members involved in retaliatory killings, arbitrary detention, torture and enforced disappearances.
The absence of an independent judicial system, severe media restrictions and threats against journalists have prevented many of these killings from being documented or investigated. Victims’ families often do not report cases publicly due to fear of retaliation or pressure.
No precise statistics exist on the total number of targeted killings since the Taliban takeover. However, media reports and international investigations suggest the death toll likely reaches thousands. Human rights organisations warn that the continuation of this situation reinforces a culture of impunity and deepens Afghanistan’s human rights crisis.
The Taliban have consistently denied organised involvement in these killings, but no transparent, independent and credible investigation has been conducted, and those responsible have not been held accountable.