KABUL — Sources confirmed on Thursday that Abdul Qadir Qanit, a religious scholar and former head of the Council for the Protection of Religious and Jihadi Values, was detained by the Taliban in Kabul on Wednesday. This is the fourth time he is detained by the Taliban.
The reason for the arrest remains unclear, according to several individuals close to him.
Two sources confirmed that following Qanit’s detention, Taliban intelligence forces raided his home and confiscated his smartphone.
It is the fourth time the Taliban have detained Qanit. His last time arrest was in October 2024. Previous arrests, sources say, were linked to his public criticism of Taliban policies and his comments made during televised appearances.
Taliban have not issued a public statement regarding the arrest.
In a statement responding to the incident, Amrullah Saleh, the former first vice president of Afghanistan, said Qanit had been detained by the Taliban’s intelligence services for criticizing “the tyranny of the Taliban, their discriminatory behavior, and the ignorance propagated by Hibatullah Akhundzada,” the group’s supreme leader.
The detention comes amid growing concerns about the Taliban’s efforts to silence dissenting voices, particularly among religious scholars who challenge the group’s ideology.
