HERAT, Afghanistan — The Taliban intelligence directorate has significantly escalated its campaign of arrests, surveillance, and retaliatory measures in Herat following a wave of local protests against strict dress-code enforcements. Local sources and documents obtained by the Hasht-e Subh newspaper confirm that local officials have received orders to identify and detain social media users, particularly local vloggers, who documented or supported the protests. At least five vloggers were re-arrested on Saturday under charges of “inciting unrest” against the regime, despite previously deleting their content under coercion.
The crackdown has expanded to include the families of diaspora activists organizing solidarity rallies abroad. Intelligence personnel have reportedly begun locating the homes of overseas critics to interrogate or detain their parents and brothers. This systematic retaliation follows a violent response to initial demonstrations on Tuesday in Herat’s Jibrail neighborhood, where Taliban forces opened fire on crowds protesting the arbitrary detention of women, killing two people—including an 11-year-old boy—and wounding nearly 30 others. Many injured civilians are currently avoiding local hospitals out of fear of arrest.
Despite a heavy military deployment and pervasive checkpoints, a second protest erupted near the provincial governor’s office in Herat on Friday, with demonstrators chanting anti-regime slogans before being violently dispersed by gunfire, resulting in one juvenile injury and four arrests. The escalating domestic repression has triggered a widening ring of international demonstrations. Over the weekend, Afghan refugees and activists staged high-profile rallies outside Taliban-controlled embassies in Tehran and Berlin, demanding that the United Nations and western governments cease diplomatic engagement with Kabul, characterizing continued international dialogue as complicity in human rights violations.
