A former member of Afghanistan’s border forces was shot and killed in broad daylight in southeastern Khost Province, local sources said, in what appears to be another targeted killing of a security official who served under the previous government.
The victim, identified as Gul Wali Din, was gunned down by two unidentified assailants on a motorcycle in the center of Mandozi district’s marketplace, witnesses told Amu TV. The attackers fled the scene without being pursued, according to those present at the scene.
Din, a former border police commander during the U.S.-backed Afghan government, had been operating a small poultry shop in the district market, local residents said. He was originally from the village of Pirano in Tani district, also in Khost Province.
Those close to Din said he had no known personal enemies and had kept a low profile in civilian life since the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021.
Taliban have not commented on the killing, and no group has claimed responsibility.
Since the collapse of the former Afghan government, hundreds of former military and police personnel have faced threats, harassment, and, in many cases, targeted killings, despite repeated Taliban promises of a general amnesty.
The incident comes amid mounting documentation of retaliatory violence against former security forces. The Telegraph, a British newspaper, recently reported that more than 200 former soldiers and police officers from the previous Afghan government have been killed by the Taliban, many of them after being identified through intelligence databases left behind during the withdrawal of foreign forces.
The newspaper published photos and names of dozens of victims, citing independent analysts and human rights monitors tracking the fate of Afghans who had worked with U.S. and British forces. The report described what it called a “systematic campaign of retribution,” despite public Taliban denials.
Taliban rejected the Telegraph findings as propaganda.
