This is a first-hand report from an asset on the ground in the Panjshir Valley in Afghanistan with whom AND Magazine is in contact.
Taliban forces in the Panjshir Valley are rounding up all males 12 and over and taking them away. The individuals being taken are not being questioned. There is no indication that any of these individuals will ever return. No camps have been built to hold them. Residents of the valley assume that they will all be killed as part of a “genocidal cleansing.”
In the past, the Taliban typically carried out extermination operations of this type in the following manner. They herded the individuals to be killed into empty cargo containers, shot them, and then closed up the containers. The containers were then buried. This was done to avoid creating large-scale mass graves because the Taliban was conscious that these could be detected remotely via satellite and might lead to international sanctions and pressure.
Residents of the Panjshir Valley believe that the current roundup is being done to entirely strip the area of any males with knowledge of the period of American occupation. It is believed by the Taliban that it is necessary to “cleanse” the area of anyone who might be able to organize resistance to the regime in the future.
No assistance is being provided by the United States to the resistance forces still fighting in the Panjshir Valley. No assistance is being provided to individuals trying to escape from the Taliban and leave Afghanistan.
AND’s source in the Panjshir stated his belief that the United States Government wants anyone who is a witness to the ongoing atrocities to die. “They want us all to die here. We can’t talk if we’re dead. If we make it out everyone will know what happened here.”
