Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has denied that the group is holding Afghan-American Mahmood Shah Habibi, a former head of Afghanistan’s civil aviation authority, saying it has no information about his fate.
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation previously accused the Taliban’s intelligence agency of abducting Habibi.
The US chargé d’affaires has also said efforts are under way to secure his release.
According to the FBI, the Taliban stopped Habibi and his driver in Kabul in August 2022 and detained them along with 29 other employees of the telecommunications company Asia Consultancy Group.
Speaking to Ariana News on Tuesday, 11 August, Mujahid said: “We have no information about Mahmood Shah Habibi. He is not with the Taliban. If he were, this problem would have been resolved long ago.”
Habibi remained in Afghanistan after the fall of the former government.
He had travelled outside Afghanistan three months before his disappearance and went missing four days after returning to Kabul.
The Taliban has previously denied detaining him.
The United States has offered a reward of up to $5 million for information about Habibi.
Richard Bennett, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, has called for an independent investigation into the killing of 11 people by Taliban security forces in Kabul.
The Taliban said on 1 August that seven people had been killed in Kabul’s eighth police district, describing them as “armed robbers”.
Bennett wrote on X on Monday that reports of people being killed during Taliban security operations in Kabul were concerning.
He referred to the shooting of four people on Monday and the killing of seven others in recent days in the eighth police district, saying the incidents should be investigated urgently and impartially.
He added that the use of lethal force must comply with international human rights law and the principles of necessity and proportionality.
Taliban police said on Monday, 10 August, that four people had been killed in Kabul’s 18th police district.
Khalid Zadran, spokesman for the Taliban police command in Kabul, said the men were “armed” and had entered a house to steal.
According to him, Taliban forces clashed with the men after arriving at the scene.
The Taliban said all four were killed and that two pistols were recovered from them.
Nine days earlier, Taliban forces killed seven other people in the Stanikzai Blocks area of Kabul’s eighth police district.
Zadran said those men were also “armed robbers” and had opened fire on Taliban forces first.
He said one Taliban member was wounded in the clash and that a vehicle and several weapons were seized.
Afghanistan International spoke to relatives of some of those killed. They rejected the Taliban’s account and said their relatives had been shot dead without trial.
According to information received by Afghanistan International, some of those killed were Hazara.
Families Initially Unaware of Their Relatives’ Fate
An informed source told Afghanistan International that the families of the seven people killed on 1 August initially had no information about their relatives’ fate.
According to the source, after the men disappeared, their families separately approached Taliban police stations seeking information.
Taliban police officials initially said they knew nothing about them.
The families were later told to go to the eighth police district because seven people accused of robbery had been killed there.
They later identified their relatives after seeing photographs of the bodies at the forensic medicine department.
The bodies were subsequently handed over to their families.
A relative of one of those killed told Afghanistan International that his family was financially well-off.
In his view, the young man had no reason to resort to theft.
Reactions to the Killings of People Accused of Robbery
The killings have also prompted reactions on social media.
Some users supported the Taliban, while others questioned why the men were not arrested and put on trial.
Referring to the Taliban’s claim that two pistols had been recovered from the four men killed, one user wrote that the main issue was that they had been summarily executed.
The user alleged that they had been shot after being detained.
He added that people should not encourage rulers to kill or deprive others of their rights, warning that anyone could face the same fate in the future.
Following the killing of the seven men in the eighth police district, Fazl Ahmad Manawi, justice minister in Afghanistan’s former regime, also described the incident as a summary execution.
Manawi said that in Islamic jurisprudence and law, the presumption of innocence is a fundamental principle, and no one is considered guilty merely on the basis of an accusation.
He called for an independent investigation into the incident.
This is not the first time the Taliban’s account of people it described as “armed robbers” being killed has been disputed by other sources.
In February 2025, the Taliban described three people killed in Nimroz as “armed robbers”, but local sources said they were not thieves.
On 4 June this year, the Taliban also accused two people killed in Herat of robbery.
An armed group opposed to the Taliban later said the two were its members and had been killed during an attack on a Taliban checkpoint.
UNAMA: Complaints Against Taliban Forces Go Unanswered
UNAMA issued a report on Monday, 10 August, on accountability for Taliban security forces and officials in response to public complaints.
The mission said Taliban security agencies had provided no statistics on the number of complaints about misconduct by their forces or the outcomes of investigations into those complaints.
UNAMA also said it had documented numerous cases in which complaints remained unresolved.
According to the mission, some people refrain from filing complaints against Taliban forces because they fear retaliation and lack confidence in the existing complaint mechanisms.
UNAMA also reported cases in which no investigation or arrest followed serious allegations of human rights violations.
The mission expressed concern as well about some Taliban military courts refusing to accept complaints filed by members of the public against Taliban forces.
Taliban Justice Minister Abdul Hakim Sharaei has rejected allegations of “systematic discrimination” and attempts to forcibly displace Hazaras, saying land recovery is a legal matter unrelated to ethnicity or religion.
He said implementing court rulings in such cases was a religious duty of the commission tasked with preventing land usurpation.
Sharaei said decisions on disputed land between the commission and individuals fall within the jurisdiction of the special court dealing with cases of allegedly usurped state land.
Speaking at a meeting with charity officials in Kabul on Tuesday, 11 August, he said that once a court ruling is issued on such land, the commission is legally and religiously obliged to enforce it.
Sharaei stressed that identifying and recovering land described by the Taliban as having been seized by usurpers or unlawful occupants was a legal process taking place across Afghanistan.
He said linking the process to ethnicity, religion or language was “illogical”.
His remarks came after the Taliban Justice Ministry had earlier declared Omid-e Sabz township in Kabul state property and ordered residents to leave their homes by 6 August.
The decision prompted widespread criticism.
Representatives of Omid-e Sabz travelled to Kandahar after the Taliban moved to seize the township’s land and evict residents, and met Mullah Shirin, the Taliban governor of Kandahar.
Sources said Mullah Shirin had promised to review their request.
The dispute over Omid-e Sabz, where a large proportion of residents are Hazara, has increased tensions between the Hazara community and the Taliban administration.
Reliable sources in Kabul told Afghanistan International on Monday, 10 August, that the Taliban justice minister had insulted and humiliated Madar Ali Karimi, deputy minister of urban development, and Abdul Latif Nazari, deputy economy minister, in his office.
According to the sources, Sharaei called Karimi and Nazari on Sunday night and summoned them to his office at the Justice Ministry on Monday morning.
Karimi and Nazari denied Afghanistan International’s report about tensions during their meeting with the justice minister.
Taliban Borders & Tribal Affairs Minister Noorullah Noori has travelled to Yaftal district of Badakhshan at the order of Prime Minister Hassan Akhund to investigate a deadly clash between Taliban forces and local residents.
In a statement issued on Monday, 10 August, the ministry said Rahmatullah Najib, deputy minister for administrative affairs at the Taliban Interior Ministry, and Mawlawi Mohammad Ali Jan, deputy minister for logistics at the Defence Ministry, accompanied Noori on the visit.
Amanuddin Mansour, the Taliban governor of Helmand who originates from Badakhshan, was also present when the delegation visited Etifaq Bazaar in Yaftal district.
The Taliban Borders and Tribal Affairs Ministry said the purpose of the visit was to investigate the clash between residents and Taliban forces in Yaftal.
Without providing exact figures, the ministry said several military personnel and civilians had been killed or wounded in the incident.
The statement quoted Noori as stressing unity and solidarity during his meeting with Yaftal residents and saying that “ethnic discrimination, regionalism and discrimination” had no place in the Taliban administration.
He also said the Taliban regarded the people of Badakhshan as “a mujahid nation”.
The Taliban delegation promised to investigate the incident and prosecute those responsible.
On Saturday, 1 August, residents of Yaftal district clashed with Taliban forces.
Local sources said the confrontation began after non-local Taliban forces physically searched a woman.
According to the sources, at least four people were killed and seven others, including a woman, were wounded in the clash. One Taliban fighter was also killed and another wounded.
Sources told Afghanistan International that the Taliban delegation, led by the borders minister, met local residents at the main mosque in Etifaq Bazaar on Friday, 7 August.
According to local sources, the delegation promised that those responsible for the shooting would be prosecuted.
However, residents sharply criticised the conduct of Taliban forces and called on Taliban officials to remove non-local fighters from the area as soon as possible.
Sources said the meeting between the Taliban delegation and residents ended without a clear outcome.
Residents also said Noori provided 50,000 afghanis in assistance to each family of those killed and wounded.
Jahan Khan Noori, the Taliban police chief in Yaftal district, has also complained about the treatment of residents by non-local forces and raised the issue seriously with Taliban officials.
He has called for the removal of those forces from the area.
Afghanistan International has also obtained an audio recording of Ehsanullah Kamgar, spokesman for the Taliban police command in Badakhshan, criticising the failure to arrest those responsible for shooting civilians in Yaftal.
“This system exists for the people, and we have a responsibility towards them. As the public relations official, I am required to answer questions,” he said in the recording.
He added: “Everyone is asking why no one has been arrested after several people were killed. Give me an answer so I can answer the people. Which unit is shooting at civilians? They did not come down from the sky to shoot people. They do not have a letter of exemption from the Amir al-Muminin.”
About a week after the incident, there have been no reports of anyone being arrested over the shooting of civilians.
After the centre of Yaftal district fell to forces of the Sepah-e Mihan Front on 17 July, the Taliban deployed non-local forces to the district.
Local residents say restrictions have increased since then, homes have repeatedly been searched, and a number of civilians have been detained.
Yaftal residents say the non-local Taliban forces are unfamiliar with the local language, culture and customs and mistreat residents.
Five years after the Taliban’s return to power, armed opposition groups have yet to shift the balance. The Taliban still controls Afghanistan’s territory, state institutions and main economic resources.
The opposition controls no territory and lacks effective foreign backing that could sustain and expand an insurgency in the way Pakistan’s support helped the Taliban during the years of war.
Afghanistan International spoke to Yasin Zia, leader of the Afghanistan Freedom Front, as well as several Afghan researchers and former officials about the future of Taliban rule.
Researchers broadly agree that the Taliban faces serious problems, but these do not yet mean its collapse is imminent.
Yasin Zia told Afghanistan International that the Taliban’s future should not be judged solely by developments on the battlefield. In his view, the group’s main weakness is political.
He said, “the most important reason for our optimism is the Taliban’s political failure, and fortunately we have achieved that objective”.
According to Zia, despite controlling extensive power and resources, the Taliban has failed to gain national legitimacy, public consent or international acceptance. But that is also where the opposition faces its central problem.
The Taliban’s political failure has not yet developed into a crisis of power within its own government.
Abbas Farasoo and Nematullah Bizhan, two Afghan researchers based in Australia, are more cautious in assessing the consequences of this weakness.
In their view, a lack of legitimacy is not in itself evidence that a regime is close to collapse.
The Taliban still possesses the main instruments of coercive power, while opposition groups have not expanded their armed resistance to a level capable of challenging the group’s territorial control.
Both researchers warn, however, that if Afghanistan’s economic, political and social crises persist, the Taliban cannot assume its stability is guaranteed.
For now, guerrilla attacks by resistance groups are largely symbolic and political. Their message is that the Taliban is not invincible.
But these attacks would become a serious threat only if resistance groups could begin limiting the Taliban’s territorial control, move beyond mountainous areas and establish bases among villages and local communities.
They would also need a reliable rear base capable of providing money, weapons, medical treatment for fighters and safe havens for their leaders.
Illegitimate but Dominant
Yasin Zia says the Taliban has closed almost every avenue for political change since returning to power.
There are no elections, the constitution has been set aside, and women have been excluded from large parts of public life.
He said when a government closes every path to reform, it effectively expands the social base of opposition against itself.
Discontent has become more visible in some parts of Afghanistan in recent years.
Protests in Badakhshan have reflected tensions between local communities and the Taliban over resources and the way these areas are governed.
In southern Afghanistan, the Taliban has also at times been forced to show flexibility in response to economic pressure from farmers.
The Taliban has informally allowed poppy cultivation in some areas of the south. Such concessions are not entirely unexpected. The south is the Taliban’s traditional stronghold, and growing discontent among poor farmers could prove costly for the group.
Abbas Farasoo considers the absence of a strong and organised opposition one of the most important factors behind the Taliban’s continued rule.
He says Taliban opponents remain fragmented, lack a unified command and political programme, and have no effective foreign support.
He mentioned that, given the current conditions, the most likely scenario over the next two to five years is the consolidation of the Taliban.
That prediction does not mean the Taliban has solved its problems.
In his view, the group has survived largely because its opponents have so far failed to exploit its weaknesses.
What Has Zebak Changed?
Recent fighting in Zebak district of Badakhshan has particular significance for the Afghanistan Freedom Front.
Yasin Zia says the clashes went beyond the small-scale guerrilla attacks that have characterised most of the group’s operations and developed into more direct confrontations with the Taliban.
He said this development alone does not mean the balance of power has changed, but it shows that popular resistance against the Taliban has moved from limited guerrilla operations towards more complex forms of battlefield warfare.
At the same time, Zia acknowledges that most Afghanistan Freedom Front operations over the past five years have been small and limited.
“We should not replace reality with propaganda. A responsible movement must distinguish between its present capacity and its ultimate objective,” he said.
He added: “We know that endlessly repeating small attacks alone will not overthrow any government.”
Zia said the Afghanistan Freedom Front’s operations in recent years had pursued three objectives: maintaining a presence on the ground, undermining the perception that the Taliban is invincible, and building organised networks inside Afghanistan.
He says the next phase will require greater resources.
Expanding political organisation, strengthening links with communities, improving command cohesion, establishing a presence in more areas and presenting a credible political alternative are among the needs he identifies.
Ali Ahmad Jalali, Afghanistan’s former interior minister, also views developments in Badakhshan as a sign of growing public reaction to Taliban policies.
He told Afghanistan International that every authoritarian system eventually faces a public response but said the opposition’s current scattered attacks still do not represent a serious threat to the Taliban.
Jalali said limited operations in remote areas were not enough to change the balance of power.
In his view, opposition success requires political cohesion, a unified strategy and national leadership.
He warned that if protests and armed clashes remain fragmented, the Taliban can use its military and security resources to contain them.
When Does Poverty Become Dangerous?
The economy is another vulnerable point for Taliban rule.
According to United Nations figures, more than 20 million people in Afghanistan require humanitarian assistance.
The Taliban lacks sufficient resources to address hunger, unemployment and the livelihood crisis and, like previous Afghan governments, remains dependent on continued foreign assistance.
Some Taliban opponents, including Amrullah Saleh, former Afghan vice president, have hoped in recent years that reducing or cutting foreign aid would increase pressure on the group.
But the experience of the past five years has shown that widespread poverty does not necessarily lead to political revolt.
Yasin Zia considers dissatisfaction caused by poverty, alongside political repression and sweeping restrictions on women, part of the social conditions that can fuel resistance.
Nematullah Bizhan, however, distinguishes between widespread discontent and an immediate threat to the government.
He said that poverty or international isolation alone is unlikely to cause the government’s immediate collapse.
In Bizhan’s view, the problem becomes more serious for the Taliban when economic pressure begins to penetrate the structure of power itself.
Declining revenues, competition over resources, dissatisfaction among commanders and a reduced ability to reward loyal networks could weaken the Taliban’s internal stability.
Bizhan said that if people feel there is no hope of improving their lives, education, employment or their children’s future, discontent could take a more dangerous form.
Abbas Farasoo also says the Taliban has performed more effectively in some areas, including tax collection and domestic revenue generation.
But he does not regard this as evidence that the Taliban has transformed itself into a conventional government.
He says the Taliban’s economic structure is primarily based on customs revenues, taxation and mining, with the main objective of maintaining its political and security apparatus rather than creating a welfare state.
Farasoo describes the Taliban economy as a “predatory economy” and says Taliban factions are engaged in intense competition to seize these resources.
Divisions, but No Split
Differences between the Kandahar leadership, Kabul-based officials, the Haqqani network and some local Taliban commanders have repeatedly been reported.
But these disputes have not so far developed into a split that threatens the cohesion of Taliban rule.
Abbas Farasoo says the authority of the Taliban leadership, suppression of internal dissent, a shared fear of collapse, common enemies and an ideological belief in monopolising power have so far prevented the divisions from widening.
Bizhan also considers internal disagreements serious but says the risks would increase if several crises occurred at the same time.
A succession crisis, worsening internal disputes, commanders breaking away and a sudden decline in revenues are among the factors he believes could challenge Taliban cohesion.
Bizhan said if the current conditions in Afghanistan and the region continue, the most likely scenario is the continuation of the status quo accompanied by gradual erosion.
That erosion could continue for years without immediately leading to collapse.
Resistance Without a Foreign Backer
One of the most serious problems facing Taliban opponents is the absence of effective foreign support.
During its war against the former government, the Taliban benefited from extensive support from Pakistan.
The mujahideen also received backing from Pakistan, the United States and several other countries during the war against the Soviet Union and the governments of Babrak Karmal and Mohammad Najibullah.
Today’s resistance groups have no comparable support.
Even some regional countries that have disagreements with the Taliban have shown little willingness to support another war in Afghanistan.
Iran has also pressured some Taliban opponents to refrain from armed confrontation with the group.
Yasin Zia says the resistance cannot tie its future to the decisions of foreign governments.
He said that a government built by foreign powers can collapse just as quickly when those same supporters change their policies. The experience of the former republic order in Afghanistan and the Doha agreement offer very serious lessons for all of us.
Zia says the main foundation of the struggle must be built inside Afghanistan and should rely on former security personnel, young people, women, civil society, political elites and domestic networks.
Declining attention from major powers has also benefited the Taliban.
Farasoo says the war in Ukraine, crises in the Middle East and competition between the United States and China mean Afghanistan no longer holds the place it did in the foreign policies of major powers over the previous two decades.
The threat posed by Islamic State Khorasan Province has also strengthened the Taliban’s position.
Concern over IS-K’s expansion has pushed Iran, Russia and some Central Asian countries towards greater security cooperation with the Taliban.
There is little disagreement among opposition figures and analysts about the Taliban’s weaknesses.
Its legitimacy crisis, social discontent, economic pressure and internal divisions are real.
But the past five years have shown that the existence of these weaknesses alone is not enough to bring about a change of government.
Tamim Asey, Afghanistan’s former deputy defence minister, said these crises, combined with the characteristics of Taliban rule, could reduce the capacity of a regime like the Taliban to withstand political, economic and social shocks and open the way for internal uprisings and foreign intervention.
Darul Ifta at Darul Uloom Karachi has said women may pursue education, including medicine, under Islamic conditions, in response to a request from an Afghan refugee woman about female education in Afghanistan.
The fatwa was issued in response to a request by Bibi Durani, an Afghan refugee woman living in Haripur, Pakistan.
On 17 May, she asked Darul Uloom Karachi to provide its Islamic legal opinion on the continuation of education for Afghan women, particularly in medicine and nursing.
Durani provided Afghanistan International with the text of her request and Darul Uloom Karachi’s response on Sunday.
The fatwa has also been widely circulated on Pakistani social media. Among those who reposted it on X was the spokesman for Pakistan’s president.
The Taliban has banned women and girls from attending universities and medical institutes.
The decision has raised widespread concerns about the future of healthcare for women in Afghanistan, which has one of the world’s highest maternal mortality rates and where women already face limited access to health services.
In her request, Durani wrote that many Afghan women and girls in Pakistan study at medical colleges, nursing centres and other educational institutions while observing hijab.
Referring to the deportation of Afghan migrants from Pakistan, she said families were concerned about the future of their daughters’ education after returning to Afghanistan.
The request said: “Our demand is that women’s education should also continue in Afghanistan within the framework of Islamic hijab and a separate education system.”
The Afghan woman asked scholars at Darul Uloom Karachi to issue a written fatwa on women’s education, particularly in medicine, nursing and teaching.
In response, Darul Ifta at Darul Uloom Karachi said women’s education in fields such as medicine was permissible provided Islamic conditions were observed.
The fatwa said educational institutions for women should be separate from those for men and there should be no mixing of male and female students.
It also said women should observe Islamic hijab while travelling to and from educational institutions.
Darul Uloom Karachi said women should preferably be taught by female teachers.
If female teachers are unavailable, righteous and trustworthy men may teach women from behind a screen while observing Islamic requirements, according to the fatwa.
The ruling also stressed the observance of hijab and other Islamic rules during education and later in the workplace.
The Taliban says conditions are not suitable for women and girls to receive education in Afghanistan.
A Taliban spokesman has also said the group has concerns about the reaction of parts of Afghan society to women’s education.
Afghanistan is now the only country in the world where girls and women are barred from secondary and higher education.