The Afghanistan United Front says it carried out at least 43 operations against the Taliban in 14 provinces over the past month, claiming 74 Taliban members were killed and 35 others wounded.
The United Front said on Tuesday, 1 September, that the attacks targeted individuals it accused of arresting, torturing and harassing Afghan citizens.
According to the group, the operations were carried out between 1 August and the end of the month. The United Front announced the launch of its military campaign against the Taliban on 1 August.
Hilal Kakar, a spokesman for the United Front of Afghanistan, said in a video statement that its most significant operation was a direct attack on a Taliban army corps in Kandahar, while its largest attack targeted a military base in Nawzad district of Helmand.
He said the attacks inflicted heavy casualties on the Taliban and that United Front forces also seized some ammunition.
“We will save Afghans from the Taliban and seek a prosperous and free Afghanistan,” Kakar said.
The front also said it would make every sacrifice necessary until the Taliban administration was overthrown and governance based on the will of the people was restored.
Over the past month, the United Front has released videos of attacks against the Taliban that it says show the bodies of Taliban members. The group has reported attacks in Kandahar, Helmand, Badghis, Ghor, Faryab and several other parts of Afghanistan.
The United Front, led by Sami Sadat, a former Afghan army commander, announced on 1 August that it had begun military operations against the Taliban and other terrorist groups in Afghanistan.
The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan has released a report on victims of armed conflict, documenting 40,000 civilian deaths and more than 77,000 injuries between January 2009 and the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021.
UNAMA said the report presents findings from research conducted in 2024 and 2025 by its Human Rights Service to understand the experiences and needs of victims of armed conflict in Afghanistan.
The report focuses mainly on the period from the US-led military intervention in 2001 until the Taliban took control of Afghanistan on 15 August 2021.
It is based on interviews with 195 victims of armed conflict and their relatives, 23 non-governmental organisations working to address victims’ needs, and 23 officials from the Taliban administration.
Decades of War in Afghanistan: Who Were the Main Parties to the Conflict?
UNAMA’s new report, which examines the situation of victims of Afghanistan’s wars over recent decades, provides an overview of the main parties involved in the country’s armed conflicts.
According to the report, Afghanistan experienced several armed conflicts between 2001 and 2021 involving government forces, the Taliban, Islamic State-Khorasan, local armed groups and international forces.
UNAMA says victims were affected by the actions of all sides to the conflict and that their accounts reflect part of the complex reality of a war that overshadowed Afghanistan for more than two decades.
UNAMA did not provide a breakdown of the number of civilians killed or wounded by each party to the conflict. Instead, the report focuses mainly on the accounts, experiences and needs of war victims and attributes responsibility for the incidents examined to various parties, including the Taliban, former government forces, Islamic State and international forces.
In its latest report, UNAMA only stresses that all parties to the conflict in Afghanistan contributed to civilian harm.
UNAMA Reports Before the Taliban Takeover
In UNAMA’s mid-year report published in 2021, the Taliban was identified as the leading cause of civilian casualties.
According to that report, between 1 January and 30 June 2021, 2,044 civilians were killed or wounded in incidents attributed to the Taliban, including 699 deaths and 1,345 injuries.
At the time, UNAMA said the figure accounted for 39 per cent of all civilian casualties recorded during the first six months of 2021.
Two months after the report was published, the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, and the former Afghan government collapsed.
In its 2020 annual report, Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict in Afghanistan, UNAMA said the Taliban had caused the highest number of civilian casualties among all parties to the war.
According to the report, between 1 January and 31 December 2020, at least 3,960 civilians were killed or wounded in attacks attributed to the Taliban, including 1,470 killed and 2,490 wounded.
Around 45 per cent of all civilian casualties were attributed to anti-government elements.
UNAMA said in its reports that a large proportion of these casualties resulted from roadside bombs, improvised explosive devices, targeted attacks and ground engagements.
UNAMA has not explained why its latest report does not specify the share of casualties attributed to each party. It appears that the UN mission in Afghanistan has overlooked the Taliban’s role in civilian casualties under pressure from the group.
Taliban
UNAMA’s latest report identifies the Taliban as the main armed opposition force to the government between 2001 and 2021.
The report says that after the fall of the Taliban’s first regime in 2001, the group reorganised as an insurgency against the republic and international forces. As foreign troops gradually withdrew, the Taliban expanded its influence, established parallel administrative structures and eventually took effective control of Afghanistan on 15 August 2021.
Former Afghan Government Security Forces
The security forces of the former Islamic Republic of Afghanistan included the Afghan National Army, Air Force, special forces, National Directorate of Security, national police, local police, public order forces and border forces.
With support from Western governments and international forces, they fought the Taliban, Islamic State and other armed groups opposed to the government. These institutions ceased functioning after the republic collapsed and the Taliban entered Kabul on 15 August 2021.
International Forces
The former Afghan government received military support from the United States, NATO and other members of the international coalition.
The military intervention by the United States and its allies began on 7 October 2001. The International Security Assistance Force and later NATO’s Resolute Support Mission were also present in Afghanistan.
These forces operated alongside Afghan government troops against the Taliban and other insurgent groups. Their military presence ended with the withdrawal of foreign forces and the collapse of the republic.
Pro-Government Armed Groups
Alongside official government forces, a number of local armed groups and militias also operated in support of the government.
These included popular uprising forces and other local armed groups that participated in fighting against the Taliban and other anti-government forces.
UNAMA’s report says these groups were not formally part of the state structure but played an active role in the conflict.
Islamic State-Khorasan
Islamic State-Khorasan officially announced its presence in Afghanistan in January 2015.
The group operated mainly in eastern Afghanistan and was blamed for some of the deadliest attacks against civilians, religious sites, public gatherings and educational centres.
According to UNAMA, although the group lost some of its territory, it continued to carry out deadly, high-casualty attacks in Kabul and other areas through 2020 and beyond.
Other Anti-Government Armed Groups
In addition to the Taliban and Islamic State, other armed opposition groups operated in parts of Afghanistan.
These groups fought against the republican government and, in some cases, against each other, forming part of Afghanistan’s non-international armed conflicts.
Civil Wars of the 1990s
UNAMA also notes that some of the victims interviewed had been affected by events during Afghanistan’s civil wars between 1992 and 1996.
During that period, various mujahideen factions fought each other for control of the Afghan government. The Taliban also emerged during this period and later took control of large parts of the country.
Pakistani media report that the prolonged closure of crossings with Afghanistan has hurt Pakistan’s trade, agriculture, poultry industry and exports, while leaving large numbers of people on both sides of the border without work.
Dawn reported on Monday that the closure of the Torkham and Chaman crossings over the past 10 to 11 months has placed traders under severe financial and psychological pressure.
Pakistan Has Lost Nearly $1 Billion in Exports
Zia-ul-Haq Sarhadi, senior vice-president of the Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said Pakistan used to export goods worth about $1.5 billion annually to Afghanistan.
According to him, Pakistani traders have lost nearly $1 billion from this sector over the past 10 months.
He said Afghanistan had been one of the closest and most important markets for Pakistani products, with Afghan buyers usually paying for their orders before the goods were dispatched.
Pakistan also exported goods worth about $800 million annually to Central Asian countries through Afghanistan. Sarhadi said the closure of the transit route over the past 10 months had cost Pakistani exporters about $225 million.
Pakistan also imported cotton, pulses and other goods from Central Asia through Afghanistan at lower cost. The suspension of this route has increased the cost of importing these products.
Afghanistan Has Also Lost Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
According to Dawn, Afghanistan’s annual exports to India through the Wagah crossing were worth about $300 million.
Sarhadi said the suspension of this route over the past 10 months had cost Afghan exporters nearly $200 million.
He also said the halt in Afghanistan-Pakistan trade had left millions of people directly and indirectly without work, while Pakistan’s treasury had lost billions of rupees in customs and tax revenue.
Stranded Containers Have Cost $1.2 Million a Day
Around 40,000 to 45,000 containers carrying Afghan goods used to pass through Karachi’s ports each year. Transport, insurance, port services, customs clearance and other services cost an average of about $4,000 per container.
Pakistan earned about $160 million annually from this activity. Sarhadi estimated that the suspension of these operations had cost Pakistan about $106 million.
Dawn reported that from October 2025 to April 2026, around 10,000 Afghan transit containers were stranded in Pakistan. A daily detention charge of about $120 was imposed on each container.
By this calculation, Afghan importers paid around $1.2 million in additional charges every day.
Pakistan’s Poultry Industry Faces Oversupply
Pakistan’s Business Recorder also reported that before the border closure, around 20 per cent of Pakistan’s poultry production was exported to Afghanistan. The suspension of these exports has left the domestic market with excess supply.
Imran Khan, an executive member of the Pakistan Poultry Association, said producing one kilogram of chicken costs around 290 rupees, while producers are selling it for about 250 rupees, resulting in a loss of roughly 40 rupees per kilogram.
Industry representatives say Pakistan’s poultry sector is now facing an oversupply of about 20 per cent. They have described the current situation as the worst crisis facing the industry and called for exports to Afghanistan to resume.
Afghan Market Closed to Pakistani Agricultural Products
In a separate report, Dawn said Afghanistan had traditionally been an important market for Pakistani sugar, rice and maize. The border closure has made it more difficult to sell surpluses of these products and increased pressure on Pakistani farmers.
Pakistan’s rice exports fell from $3.35 billion in the 2025 financial year to $2.29 billion in the 2026 financial year. The decline came amid high production costs, difficulties accessing global markets and the closure of the Afghan market.
Pakistan’s sugar industry has also called for permission to export 600,000 tons of surplus sugar. Farmers are concerned that keeping this volume in the domestic market could push down sugarcane prices in the next season.
Maize producers are also facing high inventories and difficulties exporting their products.
Pakistan’s Transit Route Has Lost Ground
Customs figures show that Afghan goods transiting through Pakistan reached 102,886 containers worth $6.7 billion in the 2023 financial year.
The figure fell to 54,114 containers in 2024 and 42,959 in 2025. In the 2026 financial year, only 11,592 containers worth $367 million passed through the route.
Afghan exports to other countries through Pakistan also fell sharply, from $454 million in the 2025 financial year to just $7 million in 2026.
Dawn reported that Afghanistan has meanwhile shifted part of its trade towards Iran and Central Asian countries. Citing World Bank data, the newspaper said direct imports from Iran and goods entering through Iran together accounted for 48.6 per cent of Afghanistan’s total imports.
In an editorial on Monday, Dawn said the Asian Development Bank had approved a $400 million package to modernise regional border crossings but warned that infrastructure upgrades alone would not revive trade without open borders and stable relations.
The newspaper said that while Pakistan is investing in becoming a regional trade corridor, its economic links with surrounding markets remain weak because of the closure of the Afghan border, limited trade with Iran and the suspension of most trade with India.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit opened in Bishkek on Monday, 31 August, with Afghanistan-related concerns over security, terrorism and drug trafficking expected to feature. The Taliban was again not invited.
Afghanistan has held formal observer status in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation since 2012, but the Taliban has not attended any of the organisation’s annual leaders’ summits since returning to power.
The main summit of SCO leaders will take place on Tuesday. On the first day, member states are mainly holding bilateral and multilateral meetings.
Leaders attending include Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, alongside the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Belarus.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan are also attending. Turkiye is not a full SCO member and holds the status of a dialogue partner.
Several bilateral meetings have been scheduled on the sidelines, including talks between Putin and the leaders of China, India, Iran and Turkiye. Economic and trade cooperation, energy, transport and regional connectivity are also expected to be discussed alongside security issues.
At the end of the summit, leaders are expected to adopt the Bishkek Declaration marking the 25th anniversary of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and Kyrgyzstan will hand over the organisation’s rotating presidency to Pakistan.
Concerns over the activities of terrorist groups, particularly Islamic State, in Afghanistan have long featured in SCO discussions.
Member states, especially Afghanistan’s neighbours, view the activities of terrorist groups in the country as a threat to regional security, and the issue is expected to be raised as part of the summit’s security discussions.
Afghanistan’s security was also discussed at an SCO foreign ministers’ meeting on 24 July. Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar described terrorism originating from Afghanistan as one of his country’s most serious security challenges, while Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called for a stable Afghanistan free of terrorism. The Taliban administration was also not represented at that meeting.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation was established in 2001 and now has 10 full members. China and Russia have increasingly used the organisation to promote a multipolar vision of the international system, although the SCO officially says it is not an alliance directed against other countries.
Nearly two weeks after Juma Khan Fateh, a Taliban dissident commander, surrendered and one phase of tensions in Badakhshan ended, the province is entering a new period of deeper internal Taliban divisions and defiance of orders from Kandahar.
As Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada appoints a new governor and police chief to contain the unrest, evidence suggests the list of dissatisfied local Taliban figures in Badakhshan is growing.
The Taliban leadership’s “monopolistic” policies, the marginalisation of Tajik and Badakhshani figures, and what critics describe as the unchecked looting of gold mines by outsiders have pushed some younger Taliban commanders in the province to the limit.
Discontent among Badakhshani Taliban members initially emerged through sharp criticism on social media. It later developed into open armed confrontation after Mahfuzullah, the former intelligence chief in Baharak, attacked the intelligence directorate and Juma Khan Fateh subsequently clashed with Taliban forces in Nusay district in August.
Recent investigations by Afghanistan International, along with interviews with several dissenting commanders in Jurm and Warduj districts, regarded as major strongholds of Badakhshani Taliban members, reveal new dimensions of the crisis.
On 25 August, Hibatullah appointed Rahmatullah Najib as governor of Badakhshan and Ahmad Shah Dindost as the provincial police chief.
Critics say the appointment of Pashtun officials and figures close to Hibatullah to key posts in Badakhshan has further marginalised local Taliban members. Sources say even the latest provincial reshuffle has failed to ease tensions because the most important positions remain in the hands of figures trusted by Kandahar, while local Taliban members are given largely symbolic roles.
Dissenting commanders say the deliberate exclusion of Tajik figures and the allocation of Badakhshan’s gold reserves to companies from Kandahar and Helmand have not only pushed them away from the governing structure but also seriously weakened their standing among local communities.
One of the first figures to openly oppose the Taliban’s Pashtun governor around three years ago was Salahuddin Salar, deputy head of intelligence at the Taliban Defence Ministry.
Over time, the protests widened. Juma Khan Fateh eventually entered armed clashes with Taliban forces and killed several fighters from Kandahar and Helmand. He later surrendered to Qari Fasihuddin and is now in Kabul awaiting trial before a military court. The outcome of the case could influence the direction of the wider unrest.
The Taliban has launched an extensive campaign to gather complaints and evidence against Fateh, apparently seeking to build a serious case against the dissident commander.
Salahuddin Salar
Salahuddin Salar, a resident of the Khastak area of Jurm district, has repeatedly criticised Taliban leadership policies on Facebook and has even described pledging allegiance to an “unseen emir” as a mistake.
Sources say his close relationship with Qari Fasihuddin has so far protected him from direct prosecution. However, Salar’s continued criticism and the Taliban’s silence have led some local Taliban members to speculate that he may have connections with the group’s intelligence apparatus and leadership.
Sayad Khastaki
Sayad Khastaki, a Taliban police recruitment commander in Badakhshan, is another figure who has criticised the group’s policies.
Following the clashes involving Juma Khan Fateh, he wrote: “The blood of our mujahideen had one value before the victory, but now they kill us and brand us as rebels.”
Khastaki was arrested several months ago by the Taliban police chief and removed from his post. Sources say, however, that he later returned to work and resumed his duties despite orders from Badakhshan police officials.
Qari Mahfuz
Qari Mahfuz, the former intelligence chief of Baharak district and a figure close to Helmand Governor Amanuddin Mansoor, became involved in a verbal dispute with Pashtun Taliban members in Faizabad.
On 1 August, he attacked the Taliban intelligence directorate with a PK machine gun before fleeing the area. Sources say he has since been dismissed from his position.
Mahfuzullah Qutiba
Mahfuzullah Qutiba, a resident of Jurm district, has also expressed dissatisfaction with Taliban leadership policies, particularly those concerning Badakhshan, and has occasionally voiced his criticism on Facebook.
After Abdul Matin Rahimzai, the Pashtun head of Badakhshan’s mines department and an ally of the Taliban leader, was dismissed, Qutiba posted a photograph of him and wrote that some people come to Badakhshan claiming they want to serve and develop the province, but instead “play the role of thieves and then flee”.
Discontent within the ranks of the Badakhshani Taliban is not limited to a handful of figures. The protests are gradually spreading to a broader group of local commanders.
Figures including Dr Ibrahim Baharaki and Jahan Khan Noori, the Taliban police chief of Yaftal district, have also repeatedly voiced objections to the central leadership’s policies at public gatherings.
Their main grievances include the exclusion of Badakhshani Taliban members from decision-making in the province, the large presence of non-local forces, and the extraction and alleged looting of Badakhshan’s gold reserves by companies from Kandahar and Helmand, a process they believe is transferring the province’s wealth outside Badakhshan.
Available findings suggest that many of the commanders now at the forefront of opposition to Kandahar’s policies are close to, or under the influence of, Qari Fasihuddin, the Taliban army chief of staff, and Mawlawi Amanuddin, the governor of Helmand.
Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi told the Financial Times that he would fully welcome US investment in Afghanistan, including in mining, infrastructure, agriculture and trade.
The Financial Times reported on Monday, 31 August, that the Taliban hopes such proposals and diplomatic efforts could help pave the way for the lifting of international sanctions and the release of frozen Afghan assets.
Muttaqi told the British newspaper: “Relations between Afghanistan and the United States should not be assessed through the lens of the past 20 years of war, but rather on the basis of future co-operation, Our economic policy is open.”
However, he did not say whether the proposal had been presented directly to the White House.
Geological assessments conducted by the United States and the former Afghan government indicate that Afghanistan has untapped mineral reserves worth at least $1 trillion, including copper, iron ore, niobium, cobalt, gold and lithium.
Since returning to power in 2021, the Taliban has signed mining contracts worth more than $7 billion, including for gold, precious stones and chromite, with countries such as China and Iran.
UN experts have warned that any move to normalise relations with the Taliban should not take place without tangible progress on human rights, particularly the rights of women and girls.
Criticising sanctions, Muttaqi said they had failed to achieve their objectives. He added: “No individual, government or institution should use the assets of the Afghan people as a tool of political pressure.”
US President Donald Trump has so far shown little willingness to establish relations with the Taliban and has previously called for the return of Bagram Air Base, a demand rejected by Muttaqi, who said all military and civilian facilities were national assets of Afghanistan.
The Taliban foreign minister also urged Washington to reopen its embassy in Kabul, saying security at the site had been ensured.
In a separate interview with Japan’s Kyodo News, he also called on Washington to abandon what he described as a confrontational approach towards the Taliban administration.
Muttaqi said the Taliban administration wants to normalise relations with the United States.