SHEBERGHAN (SW) – There have been repeated reports of Taliban recruitment minors for fighting in areas under their control.
A number of residents in such areas have confirmed this in interviews with Salam Watandar, saying that most of the Taliban fighters killed in fighting with security forces have been forcibly armed by the group.
A Jawzjan resident, who did not want to be named, told Salam Watandar that the Taliban had forcibly armed his young son and took him to war. According to this person, he has repeatedly tried to go to the Taliban and ask them to release his son, but he feared that the Taliban will not listen to him and harm his son.
The Jawzjan resident said the Taliban are oppressing people and forcibly taking children who should be in school rather than the battlefield.
A local commander in Jawzjan also said that the Taliban had forcibly recruited boys between the ages of 16 and 18 from the villages of Murghab, Hassan Tabin, Shakarak, Afghan Tappeh, Qarakant and Tonike.
According to the commander, in the Taliban’s war with the security forces, most of those killed by the Taliban by force are killed.
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Khalil Asir, a spokesman for the Takhar police command, also confirmed the Taliban’s recruitment of minors in the areas under their control, saying the Taliban had asked young people in the areas under their control to join the ‘Jihad’ or face death.
On the other hand, Baghlan police chief Safiullah Mehzoon said that the Taliban were looting people’s homes in addition to recruiting their children.
According to Mehzoon, the Taliban in the areas under their control could not provide services or ensure rights to the people, and were only oppressing them.
Mohammad Hashem Sarwari, a member of the Samangan provincial council, also said the Taliban in the province were forcing people to feed up to 10 members of their group daily. He confirmed that the insurgents have also asked each village to recruit 10 of their boys as Taliban soldiers.
Meanwhile, a Badakhshan civil activist, who did not want to be named in the report, said the Taliban were recruiting in several stages. In the first stage, they announce that people will join them voluntarily. In the second stage, they talk to tribal elders and influential people to provide them with a certain number of young people, and in the third stage, they force the young people to go to war.
The Badakhshan resident added that a large number of Badakhshan youth have fled to Kabul and Iran for fear of being recruited by the Taliban.
However, Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, told Salam Watandar that under their law, minors were not allowed to fight. He claimed that the Taliban have not been forcibly recruiting anyone.
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