Although the violence has subsided, Taliban continue to enforce a strict siege on Khash District in northeastern Badakhshan Province, local residents said, adding that telecommunications remain cut, leaving the area isolated.
The standoff follows a protest by farmers in Khash who had assembled to oppose the Taliban’s destruction of their opium poppy fields. Taliban members responded with force, leaving at least 15 people dead—including one woman—and more than 60 wounded, according to local sources.
Before the crackdown, residents had threatened to burn down Taliban administrative offices if their fields were demolished, reflecting a broader pattern of resistance in Badakhshan’s rural regions against the regime’s eradication efforts.
Ishaq Khalid, the Taliban governor of Badakhshan, told the BBC that while the protests failed to halt the poppy destruction, “security” had been restored. “The situation has returned to normal,” he said.
Residents, however, dispute that assessment. “No conflict is ongoing now,” one local told Amoo, “but the entire district remains under siege. We are cut off from the world—no phone, no word.”
