Sources told Afghanistan International that Taliban intelligence detained local singer Sayed Ghafar Agha at his home in Kabul’s 15th district after he posted a video mourning the death of NRF commander Hasib Panjshiri.
Sayed Ghafar Agha had reacted to Hasib Panjshiri’s death in a video several days earlier, saying: “If I had not offered condolences for his martyrdom, I would have felt guilty for the rest of my life.”
Local sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Taliban intelligence detained Sayed Ghafar Agha after the video was published.
The sources said the Taliban also took his car when he was detained.
Sayed Ghaffar Agha, a local singer and Dambura player, left Afghanistan for Iran after the Taliban returned to power in 2021. After spending some time there, he returned to Afghanistan in recent months.
The Afghanistan Human Rights and Democracy Organisation says the Taliban publicly flogged 2,745 people, including women, across Afghanistan between February 2022 and April 2026, documenting 634 separate public flogging incidents.
The Afghanistan Human Rights and Democracy Organisation published the report on Tuesday, 25 August.
According to the report, the Taliban punished 422 women, 1,761 men and 562 people whose gender was not specified.
The 92-page report, titled “Whips of Power, Spectacle of Control: Documenting the Taliban’s Public Floggings, 2022-2026”, examines corporal punishment carried out by the Taliban.
The report said Kabul province accounted for the highest share of people flogged, at 88 per cent, while Nuristan recorded the lowest share, at one per cent.
The highest number of public flogging incidents was recorded in 2025, with 262 cases, while the lowest was in 2023, with 30 cases.
Most of those punished were flogged over allegations involving sexual offences and moral crimes, including relationships, sexual conduct and restrictions related to women’s movement.
The Afghanistan Human Rights and Democracy Organisation said public corporal punishment is often carried out in front of crowds and is used by the Taliban as a tool of punishment, intimidation and social control.
The report also documents cases of arbitrary detention, forced confessions and denial of access to defence lawyers, evidence and witnesses.
The organisation described public flogging as a violation of several fundamental rights, including the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment, the right to privacy, freedom of movement, freedom of assembly and association, and the right to a fair trial.
It also said the report’s findings could, under international law, be relevant to possible crimes against humanity and war crimes, including torture, persecution, imprisonment, cruel and inhuman treatment, denial of fair-trial rights and outrages upon personal dignity.
The report includes 23 personal testimonies from victims and calls on governments, international organisations and human rights bodies to strengthen independent monitoring, investigate abuses and take steps to hold perpetrators accountable.
The organisation said Taliban policies towards women and girls amount to “gender apartheid” and should be recognised as a crime against humanity.
It urged the United Nations to take the report’s findings into account when examining the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan.
The organisation also called on the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to review evidence concerning alleged Taliban crimes as part of the court’s investigation into Afghanistan.
Despite the continuation of flogging in Afghanistan, the Taliban has stopped officially publicising such punishments since the beginning of this summer.
The Afghanistan Human Rights and Democracy Organisation called on the Taliban to revoke orders permitting flogging and end restrictions on the rights and freedoms of women, girls and other Afghan citizens.
The Taliban Supreme Court continued publishing reports on the flogging of citizens until May 2026.
Afghanistan International’s review shows that since 22 April 2026, the Taliban Supreme Court has significantly restricted public access to information about corporal punishment.
The last statement published by the court on a flogging sentence was dated 22 April. In that announcement, the Taliban Supreme Court said two defendants in Badakhshan had each been sentenced to one year in prison and 39 lashes over an alleged extramarital relationship.
The restriction followed an Afghanistan International investigative report published on 25 April 2026.
That investigation, based on thousands of official Taliban court statements, information from UN experts and reports by human rights organisations, found that more than 107,550 lashes had been inflicted on Afghan citizens from the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul in August 2021 through the end of March 2026.
UN experts, including Richard Bennett, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, have previously called for an end to corporal punishment.
They described such punishments as an “assault on human dignity” and warned that they could amount to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
The experts have said the widespread use of corporal punishment for such alleged offences forms part of a broader system of structural gender discrimination and social control that is incompatible with Afghanistan’s international obligations.
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid says the group leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, has dismissed Mohammad Ismail Ghaznawi as governor of Badakhshan.
According to him Rahmatullah Najib, a deputy interior minister, is appointed as his replacement.
The change comes amid recent tensions and growing insecurity in Badakhshan.
According to the decree, published on Tuesday, 25 August, several other Taliban officials were also reassigned in Badakhshan, Sar-e Pul and the Interior and Public Works ministries.
Mullah Bakhtiar Moaz was appointed governor of Sar-e Pul, while Mullah Ahmad Shah Dindost was named police chief of Badakhshan.
Mullah Abdul Jabbar was appointed deputy minister of interior for administrative affairs, Mawlawi Mohammad Ismail Ghaznawi was named deputy minister for road maintenance at the Public Works Ministry, and Mawlawi Abdul Basir Mazhari was appointed head of public works in Kandahar.
The changes to the Taliban governor and police chief in Badakhshan come as the province has seen widespread unrest and an increase in attacks by armed opposition groups in recent months.
In late July, fighters from the Sepahiyan-e Mihan Front briefly seized control of Yaftal district in a surprise attack. The incident led to broad changes in the Taliban’s security and administrative structures in Badakhshan.
Meanwhile, Zabihullah Amiri, the Taliban’s information and culture chief in Badakhshan, was killed in an armed attack on the Baharak-Faizabad road.
In another attack, the Taliban-appointed mayor of Faizabad was also killed.
At the same time, repeated clashes between Afghanistan Freedom Front forces and the Taliban have continued in Zebak district.
Separately, forces loyal to Juma Khan Fateh, a dissident Taliban commander, fought Taliban troops for about a week in Darwaz district. He surrendered to Fasihuddin Fitrat, the Taliban army chief of staff, about a week ago.
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid had previously told Afghanistan International that Fateh would be put on trial.
In recent days, the Taliban has also begun a broad process of collecting complaints and documenting allegations against Juma Khan Fateh.
Three eyewitnesses in Herat told Afghanistan International that Taliban morality police detained several women and girls in three separate incidents, including a 13-year-old girl who was fully covered and wearing a headscarf and mask.
One witness told Afghanistan International that at around 11 am on Sunday, near the Taliban’s Information and Culture directorate, morality police detained a girl of about 13 who had just left an educational course.
According to the witness, the girl screamed loudly and called on people for help. Several nearby shopkeepers protested, shouting: “Shame on us that they take away and detain our women in front of us while we stand and watch.”
The officers beat one of the men with an electric baton, leaving his face bloodied. They then drove away with the girl, who had been forced into a vehicle.
Another eyewitness said that on Sunday, Taliban members in two vehicles detained a number of women and girls in the Pul-e Rangina area.
According to the witness, officers forced several women and girls who were observing the Taliban’s mandated hijab into the vehicles. One of the women had two children with her, who cried as she was detained.
Several men asked the officers to release the women, but the Taliban personnel ignored them and took the women away.
The witness added that when the vehicles reached the Sufiabad area, two veiled women forcibly put a young girl who were observing the Taliban’s mandated hijab into one of the vehicles.
In a third incident, an eyewitness said on Monday that two Taliban vehicles took away a girl from an alley known as Hammam-e Khwaja Amini.
According to the witness, the girl was wearing hijab and a face mask. She was carrying a backpack and appeared to be under 20.
Describing the Taliban’s treatment of her, the witness said: “It was as if they had caught a thief.”
A widespread wave of detentions of women in Herat has intensified since 6 June.
Khalid Hanafi, Taliban’s Minister of the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, has said those detained were people who, in his words, were seeking to “promote improper hijab and create unrest” against the Ministry.
The Taliban Justice Ministry on Saturday announced the approval of a new police law that imposes further restrictions on public gatherings and expands police powers over detainees and suspects.
The document was published under the title “Shurta Law” (Police Law).
The law falls under the Interior Ministry and has been approved by Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada.
It states that the Taliban police, are personnel who assist the security official, in security matters, follow his orders and enforce Taliban regulations related to security and public order.
Expanded Powers for Taliban Police
Under Article 50, “all demonstrations throughout Afghanistan” are prohibited. Clause four of Article 14 also bans photography or video recording during the implementation of punishments.
Article 27 increases the maximum period of detention to 10 days, compared with three days under previous regulations.
Article 41 grants police broader powers in dealing with suspects. Under this provision, police are required to warn suspects to fear God and not violate the rights of others. The second clause allows disciplinary measures and the use of harsh language.
Under the third clause, police can compel suspects to repent. The fourth clause allows police to threaten suspects accused of serious crimes with death.
The fifth clause also states that people who repeatedly commit serious crimes may be punished by police.
Police Duties
The document lists maintaining security and public order, protecting civilian airports and their facilities, preventing the possession of unauthorised weapons, and protecting the property and assets of the Afghan people among the main duties of the police.
According to the law, the Shurta or the police has several branches, including firefighting, disaster prevention, traffic police and public order units.
The document states that in border protection, the Shurta is responsible for monitoring people, vehicles and goods entering and leaving Afghanistan. It is also responsible for matters related to the security of civilian helicopter and aircraft flights.
In the traffic sector, police are responsible for regulating the movement of vehicles, issuing vehicle permits and driving licences, issuing number plates, and investigating traffic accidents and violations.
Narcotics
Clause four of Article 11 states that Shurta personnel must refrain from displaying large pictures of senior figures on their uniforms, vehicles or other equipment, and must prevent others from doing so.
The police are also required to prevent the cultivation, production, trafficking, sale and use of narcotics.
Article 12 states that the Shurta must prevent the cultivation of narcotics, opium, cannabis and other similar plants.
Under the law, police are responsible for gathering people addicted to drugs and referring them to treatment centres. They must also pursue and detain drug sellers, traffickers and distributors, and destroy seized drugs and related equipment.
The law also says the Shurta is responsible for preventing smuggling and kidnapping, and for pursuing and detaining kidnappers.
Under the law, police must observe “Islamic rulings” when arresting suspects, particularly women and children.
Clause four of Article 14 states that police must avoid actions that physically harm suspects during arrest.
According to the provision, without a Sharia court order, police must not beat a prisoner or suspect with sticks, whips or cables, or otherwise mistreat them. The Shurta is also prohibited from torturing ordinary and political prisoners.
The article also states that “no one has the right to take photographs or record video during the implementation of punishment”.
Issuing Visas to Foreign Nationals
One of the most significant provisions of the new law grants the Shurta authority to issue visas to foreign nationals.
The police are tasked with issuing passports to Afghan citizens and visas to foreign nationals intending to travel to Afghanistan.
The Shurta has also been instructed to cooperate with the Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice to prevent the display of images at intersections and along roads.
Under Article 37, the police are authorised to use weapons, explosive materials and explosives to maintain security. The article says the Shurta may use weapons “during rebellion, armed crimes against security and armed conflict”.
Threats of Death
Article 41 states that security officials have the authority, in an effort to reform a suspect, to warn them to fear God regarding both the rights of God and the rights of other people.
Security officials may discipline suspects and address them using “angry” or harsh language.
Under the same article, Taliban security officials are authorised to “compel” suspects to repent.
Clause four of Article 41 states that security officials may “threaten with death” suspects accused of major crimes.
The law prohibits Shurta personnel from accepting gifts or attending “unusual gatherings”. Police are also barred from making improper remarks in the media and are not allowed to grow “long hair contrary to the Sunnah”.
Nawidullah Fitrat, a teacher in Kabul, accused the Taliban in a Facebook video on Friday of using religion to pursue ethnic objectives, saying the group’s true nature had become clear to the public.
In the video, which was broadcast live on his Facebook page, Fitrat said: “This may be my last video, but I will tell the truth before I die.”
He accused the Taliban of placing a religious mask over ethnic objectives and called on the group to “remove its religious mask” and “separate religion from politics”.
Fitrat said the Taliban had left no hope for the people of Afghanistan and that opportunities had disappeared since the group returned to power.
He also accused the Taliban of contributing to killings and destruction in Afghanistan during the years of war before its return to power. He said Afghans had eventually been given an opportunity to establish a representative government and lay down their weapons, but that the Taliban, during and after the war, had been responsible for the destruction of schools, universities, bridges and other infrastructure.
He described the Doha agreement between the Taliban and the United States as a disgraceful deal and said the Taliban’s return to power had once again destroyed people’s hopes and left no path for coexistence.
Fitrat said people had reached the end of their patience and that the Taliban’s conduct had driven young people away from religion and made them unwilling to listen to the group.
Addressing young Pashtuns, he urged them to work towards ending Taliban rule and to create what he called the last opportunity for coexistence with other ethnic groups.
He accused the Taliban of disrupting the social order and imposing an authoritarian system on Afghanistan.
Addressing the Taliban directly, Fitrat said: “You did not come to save religion; religion is only a slogan, while in practice your objectives are ethnic and racial.”
In another part of his remarks, he also called on religious scholars to take a stand against the Taliban’s conduct.
The video has been widely shared on social media in recent hours. Some users have also expressed concern about Fitrat’s safety.
However, Afghanistan International cannot independently verify Fitrat’s security situation or current whereabouts, and it remains unclear where he has been since publishing the video.
Taliban officials had not commented on the allegations made in the video by the time of publication.