Thousands displaced from Panjshir due to Taliban violence

Kabul, Sep 10 (EFE).- Thousands of civilians have been displaced from their homes in Panjshir, in northern Afghanistan, due to violence perpetrated by the Taliban after their capture of the province earlier this week.

“Taliban have forced and expelled thousands of people from their homes and villages in Panjshir as they have started oppression and killings,” the National Resistance Front (NRF) said in a statement Friday.

The NRF termed the persecution and killing of the Panjshir residents as “ethnic cleansing” and accused the international community of being mere spectators and “ignoring the situation”.

Panjshir was the last bastion of the resistance forces against the Taliban since the Islamist group took over the country, capturing the capital Kabul on Aug.15.

After the Taliban fighters seized control of Panjshir valley, the resistance fighters fled to the sub-valleys or the mountains and vowed to continue a guerrilla warfare against the Islamists.

The NRF statement accused the Taliban forces of “violation of human rights” by deploying forces in the sub-valleys of Panjshir and killing its people.

“Edible items and medicines are not available; the residents are on the move as they can’t accept the atrocities of the terrorists,” the NRF said.

Most of Panjshir’s displaced residents have either fled to the mountains or moved to nearby provinces or to the capital city of Kabul.

“Thousands of people have been leaving. Taliban are forcing people from their homes and turning the houses into military bases,” Shirin Agha, a displaced Panjshir resident in Kabul, told EFE.

Agha said he left after the Taliban started house-to-house searches and detained at least three young men from their village, and forcefully turned two houses into checkposts.