Taliban Positions Targeted In Pre-Emptive Attack, Says AFF
As fighting intensifies in Nusay district of Badakhshan’s Darwaz area, the Afghanistan Freedom Front says it carried out a “pre-emptive” attack on Taliban positions in Zebak district.
As fighting intensifies in Nusay district of Badakhshan’s Darwaz area, the Afghanistan Freedom Front says it carried out a “pre-emptive” attack on Taliban positions in Zebak district.
The group said on Saturday, 15 August, that its forces targeted Taliban positions on the front lines in Zebak with mortars.
According to Afghanistan Freedom Front, the operation was launched after Taliban forces prepared to attack the group’s positions.
The front claimed the attack inflicted heavy casualties on the Taliban, with several fighters killed and wounded, but did not provide exact figures.
It said the Taliban dead and wounded were taken to medical facilities in Zebak and to Faizabad hospital.
The Taliban has not yet commented on the claim.
The attack comes as the Taliban has deployed thousands of troops to Badakhshan to confront armed opposition groups.
It was carried out on the fifth anniversary of the Taliban’s return to power.
The Taliban’s rhetoric towards its opponents and the large-scale deployment of forces to Badakhshan indicate growing concern within the group over the expansion of armed opposition activity in the province.
The Afghanistan Freedom Front also said its commando forces remained active in defensive positions and bases in Zebak.
On the fifth anniversary of the Taliban’s return to power, opposition groups reiterated that they would continue what they describe as resistance against the Taliban.
Tajmir Jawad, the Taliban’s deputy intelligence chief, has acknowledged the presence of opportunistic individuals within the Taliban administration, saying their activities are being monitored and action will be taken against them.
Jawad said strengthening the Taliban administration requires the efforts of people with ideological, intellectual and religious commitment, warning of attempts to undermine what he described as the achievements of 20 years of war.
In a message marking the fifth anniversary of the Taliban’s return to power, he said people who joined the group solely for “material benefits” could not be expected to struggle or make sacrifices to strengthen the system.
Without naming anyone, Jawad said that just as certain individuals had previously been used to undermine the “achievements of the jihad against the Soviet Union”, similar figures were now being used to damage the Taliban’s achievements of 20 years of war.
The Taliban deputy intelligence chief said, without providing details, that different aspects of these efforts were being monitored and that necessary measures were being taken to prevent those behind them from achieving their objectives.
Jawad described efforts to consolidate the Taliban administration as a continuation of the group’s 20-year “jihad”, saying those loyal to the system would defend it because of their ideological, intellectual and religious ties.
His remarks come as activity and attacks by armed opposition groups have increased in recent days and weeks ahead of the fifth anniversary of Taliban rule.
At the same time, fighting between forces loyal to Juma Khan Fateh, a dissident Taliban commander, and Taliban forces in Nusay district of Badakhshan has entered its fifth day.
Local sources say the Taliban has continued air strikes while sending reinforcements to Badakhshan and preparing for a large-scale ground operation.
Informed sources previously told Afghanistan International that the operation against Fateh’s forces was launched on the orders of Tajmir Jawad, the Taliban’s deputy intelligence chief.
The dispute between Juma Khan Fateh and the Taliban leadership began months ago over mining activities and intensified after several of his associates were detained on the orders of the Taliban governor of Badakhshan.
Rawadari, a human rights organisation, says human rights violations and repression have remained widespread in Afghanistan over the past five years, with at least 6,929 civilians killed or wounded between 15 August 2021 and 31 December 2025.
In a report published on Saturday, 15 August, to mark the fifth anniversary of the Taliban’s return to power, Rawadari said the incidents included targeted, suspicious and extrajudicial killings, bomb and suicide attacks, explosions involving unexploded ordnance left from the war, and Pakistani military strikes.
According to the report, at least 399 former government employees and members of their families were killed during the same period in targeted, suspicious or extrajudicial attacks carried out by the Taliban or unidentified armed individuals.
The organisation also said at least 47 protesters, including eight women, were killed for organising or taking part in peaceful demonstrations against the Taliban.
Rawadari identified arbitrary detention as another widespread human rights violation over the past five years.
According to its findings, from August 2021 to the end of 2025, at least 6,043 Afghan citizens, including 78 female protesters, were unlawfully and arbitrarily detained, mainly by Taliban intelligence and the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.
Among those detained were at least 646 former government employees, 643 civil society activists, journalists and human rights defenders, and 1,366 people accused of cooperating with, belonging to or having links with anti-Taliban groups.
Rawadari said at least 51 detainees died after severe torture in Taliban detention facilities during this period, while another 171 people forcibly disappeared.
The organisation also said Taliban courts had punished at least 2,423 people over the past five years for various alleged offences using methods Rawadari described as extralegal, cruel and inhumane.
These punishments included public executions and qisas, or retributive punishment, flogging and blackening the faces of accused individuals.
The report also cited the exclusion of women and girls from education and employment, their removal from public life, restrictions on freedom of expression and the media, and the introduction of restrictive laws and regulations as further human rights violations.
Rawadari specifically referred to the Taliban’s law on the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice and its criminal procedure code as measures that, according to the organisation, have intensified restrictions on fundamental freedoms and the repression of citizens.
However, the organisation stressed that despite widespread repression, civil resistance and advocacy by women, civil society activists, human rights defenders, journalists and other Afghans inside and outside the country have continued.
Rawadari said it would continue documenting human rights violations and pursuing victims’ demands for justice and accountability for those responsible.
Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi told The New York Times that the United States could reopen its embassy in Kabul and restore a diplomatic presence in Afghanistan.
The report, published on Friday, 14 August, said Muttaqi also urged the United States to invest in Afghanistan’s vast mineral reserves, dams and roads, projects on which three successive US administrations and their allies spent billions of dollars, while Taliban insurgents spent two decades trying to undermine them.
Kabul Seeks to Break Isolation Through Regional Diplomacy
Five years after the withdrawal of US forces, the Taliban government is again inviting Washington to return to Afghanistan with diplomats and economic investment.
Muttaqi said: “We consider the chapter of war to have come to an end, and from now on, we want relations based on mutual respect and a new chapter of positive engagement.”
Over the past year, the Taliban has made repeated efforts to reduce its international isolation, including signing a defence partnership with Russia, visiting Gulf countries, meeting Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and concluding dozens of trade agreements with Central Asian neighbours and India.
These efforts intensified after Pakistan closed its trade crossings over security concerns and carried out air strikes inside Afghanistan earlier this year.
Washington Rejects Normalisation as Legal and Political Obstacles Remain
Despite the Taliban’s overtures, the US State Department rejected the prospect of normalising relations in a written response and accused the group of failing to honour its counter-terrorism commitments.
In addition, the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada over alleged crimes against humanity linked to the persecution of women, while billions of dollars in Afghan central bank assets remain frozen in the United States.
The Trump administration has also adopted tougher measures towards the Taliban, including suspending visa issuance, banning Afghan nationals from entering the United States, placing the Taliban on a list of governments accused of wrongful detention, drawing closer to Pakistan and increasing pressure on Iran, one of the Taliban’s more stable regional partners.
In return, the Taliban has rejected Trump’s demands for renewed control of Bagram Air Base, the handover of US weapons left behind in Afghanistan and the release of an American detainee.
Muttaqi said: “No Afghan wants or can tolerate the military presence of another country on Afghan soil, as history has demonstrated”.
Competition With China and Russia Over Minerals
Some US diplomats and analysts, including Robin Raphel and Michael Kugelman, believe an offer to invest in Afghanistan’s largely untapped lithium, copper and iron ore reserves could appeal to Trump and provide an incentive to counter the growing influence of China and Russia in the region.
However, the United States has a poor record in this sector.
According to the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, the United States spent nearly $1 billion on Afghanistan’s mining industry between 2004 and 2021 but achieved no significant progress.
Companies from China, Iran and Qatar currently hold mining contracts in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan is also facing a severe humanitarian crisis.
According to United Nations figures, half of the country’s population of 45 million requires humanitarian assistance, while the return of more than four million Afghans from Pakistan and Iran since the beginning of 2025 has sharply increased economic pressure.
Migration Talks With Europe and Continued Domestic Policy Deadlock
On the international front, a five-member delegation of Afghan diplomats met more than 20 diplomats from 15 European Union member states in Brussels in June to discuss the return of rejected asylum seekers and convicted criminals.
According to Afghan diplomats, the taboo around talking to the Taliban in Europe has been broken, although no European country has yet recognised the Taliban government.
Despite these diplomatic efforts, Muttaqi again described the ban on education for women and girls as temporary when asked about the policy.
Analysts, however, say the Taliban is unlikely to fully emerge from international isolation unless it revises its hardline domestic policies, many of which are dictated directly from Kandahar.
Taliban Defence Minister Yaqoob Mujahid warned on Friday that the group’s forces were ready to confront internal and external threats, saying any Pakistani aggression against Afghan territory would receive a calculated response.
Speaking to Taliban-controlled National Television on the fifth anniversary of the group’s return to power, Mujahid accused Pakistan of equipping and financing destructive elements, particularly Islamic State members, along the Durand Line and in major Pakistani cities to carry out activities against Afghanistan.
Mujahid said Pakistan’s unreasonable demands suggested that Islamabad viewed Afghanistan’s security and progress as a threat.
Without naming any particular country or group, he also claimed that some states and circles, driven by their own interests, were making “false claims” about the presence of anti-Taliban groups in Afghanistan.
However, the Taliban defence minister said the group’s government did not want regional tensions to continue and supported resolving disputes through dialogue.
Mujahid also said the Taliban possessed the equipment and resources needed for an army and that its military currently numbered around 150,000 personnel.
He added that Afghanistan might need two to three times that number of troops.
In another part of his remarks, the Taliban defence minister claimed that “nationwide security” had been established in Afghanistan and said the group had plans to address the population’s economic difficulties.
His remarks contrast with documented international assessments showing that Afghanistan continues to face a severe humanitarian and livelihood crisis.
According to United Nations estimates, around 17.4 million Afghans are expected to face acute food insecurity in 2026, including 4.7 million people in an emergency phase.
International reports have also challenged the Taliban’s claim that “nationwide security” has been achieved.
The UN Security Council’s Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team previously warned in a recent report that Afghanistan had once again become a haven for terrorist groups.
According to the report, terrorist threats emanating from Afghanistan have remained broadly unchanged, with various groups in the country continuing to pose security threats to Pakistan, China and Central Asian states.
At the same time, armed opposition activity against the Taliban has increased in parts of Afghanistan in recent months, with clashes reported in several provinces.
Most recently, Juma Khan Fateh, a dissident Taliban commander in Badakhshan, has been fighting Taliban forces in the area for the past four days.
Meanwhile, the Afghanistan Freedom Front, Sepahiyan-e Mihan, the United Front of Afghanistan and the National Resistance Front have all reported an increase in operations against Taliban targets.
The Bolaq Analysts Network said in a new report that Hazaras have faced widespread security, political, economic, religious and cultural challenges during the five years of Taliban rule.
The report, titled The Human Rights Situation of Hazaras in the Fifth Year of Taliban Rule, was published to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the Taliban’s return to power.
It examines the situation of Hazaras across six areas: personal security, economic conditions, political participation, religious rights, cultural rights and legal protections.
The authors said their findings point to continuing patterns of deprivation, discrimination and vulnerability affecting the community under Taliban rule.
According to Bolaq, Hazaras have continued to face deadly attacks by Islamic State Khorasan Province over the past five years, while also suffering from what the report describes as a lack of effective security protection.
The report refers to targeted attacks against Hazaras and continuing concerns over sectarian violence.
The Bolaq Analysts Network also criticised the limited political participation of Hazaras under the Taliban, saying the group has failed to provide meaningful representation for Afghanistan’s different ethnic and religious communities.
It said Hazaras have only a very limited presence in decision-making institutions and government structures.
On the economy, the report highlighted poverty, unemployment, forced migration, land disputes and livelihood difficulties in Hazara-majority areas.
The authors said many people in central Afghanistan have faced shrinking economic opportunities and growing pressure on household livelihoods.
The report also cited religious restrictions affecting Shias and Hazaras.
According to the report, restrictions on religious ceremonies, pressure on Shia religious institutions and certain changes to the education system are among the concerns raised by the Hazara community.
On cultural rights, the research organisation pointed to a shrinking space for media activity, cultural restrictions and pressure on some cultural and educational centres associated with Hazaras.
The report said these developments have affected efforts to preserve and promote the community’s cultural identity.
Bolaq Analysts Network warned that the continuation of these conditions could deepen social and ethnic divisions in Afghanistan.
It called on the international community to pay greater attention to the human rights situation of Hazaras and other ethnic and religious communities in Afghanistan.