As protests expand in Badakhshan, questions arise about its administrative structure. Residents say that most key positions in the province are occupied by people from other provinces.
According to information gathered, the Taliban’s governor for Badakhshan is from Kandahar, the deputy governor from Takhar, the police commander from Parwan, and the Taliban’s security chief for the province is from Laghman.
Many from Badakhshan say that due to internal disagreements among the residents and a lack of trust by the Taliban leadership, most officials in the province are from other regions.
As protests intensified, the question of how the administrative structure in Badakhshan operates has preoccupied many.
Badakhshan has an estimated population of over one million, predominantly comprised of Tajiks and Uzbeks.
However, those placed in senior positions are not native residents of Badakhshan.
Residents of Badakhshan recently protested what they describe as the mismanagement by the Taliban, critiquing that many provincial leadership positions are filled by officials from other regions.
The governor of Badakhshan, Mohammad Ayoub Khalid, hails from Kandahar, while the deputy governor, Aminullah Tayib, comes from Takhar. The province’s security commander, Azizullah Omari, is from Parwan, and the intelligence head is from Laghman. The local population, primarily Tajik and Uzbek and estimated to exceed one million, has voiced concerns over these appointments.
Khalid, appointed in September of the previous year by the Taliban’s leader, previously served as governor in Kunar and commanded eastern Afghanistan’s Taliban forces. He is reportedly a close associate of both the Taliban’s leader and the infamous commander Daudullah. Tayib, appointed this past January, previously worked as Takhar’s border forces commander and was deputy head of the 313 Corps. Both are of Pashtun ethnicity.
Residents have expressed mistrust toward the Taliban, citing a lack of inclusiveness and the displacement of local members from significant positions. “This is an ethnic government. It doesn’t even trust its members from Badakhshan, instead appointing those it trusts from regions like Kandahar and Helmand,” said Mohammad Nazif Shahrani, a university lecturer.
Earlier protests against these appointments saw demonstrators chanting anti-Taliban slogans, with at least two protestors killed and about 15 others wounded when Taliban forces opened fire.
The Taliban’s governance, criticized nationally and internationally for its lack of inclusivity, holds power in a province strategically located in northeastern Afghanistan, bordering Tajikistan, Pakistan, and China, and adjacent to the provinces of Kapisa, Panjshir, and Takhar.
