Kabul (AsiaNews) – For a couple of hours last Friday, a group of armed men raised their own flag in place of that of the Taliban, in Yaftal-e Sofla, a district in the northeastern province of Badakhshan.
The attack was carried out by an opposition group calling itself the Homeland Soldiers' Front (Sepahiyan-e Mihan, in Dari). This is the first time since the Taliban's return to power in 2021 that opposition forces seized a district administration, even temporarily, from the central government.
According to the group, the attack was not limited to Yaftal-e Sofla but was also carried out in two other districts of the province, Kishm and Yawan-Ragh, around 2:00 am.
In Yaftal, dozens of fighters disarmed local police, seized military vehicles and equipment, and raised their flag on the administration building, before retreating when government reinforcements arrived.
Ehsanullah Kamgar, spokesman for the Taliban police in Badakhshan, explained that the attack occurred while local officials were on weekend leave, an admission that reveals a fragile security apparatus in peripheral areas, still dependent on individual commanders rather than a structured system.
At least seven people were arrested after the incident, the authorities reported, but local sources claim that the Taliban conducted house-to-house searches, including of uninvolved civilians and even Taliban members.
Chief of General Staff of the Taliban Armed Forces Fasihuddin Fitrat personally visited the district, dismissing the incident as an isolated attempt by agitators lacking real military capabilities to gain media attention.
Fawzia Koofi, a former parliamentarian in the previous Afghan regime, complained on social media that the government crackdown included the detention of minors, saying that it only risks strengthening popular resistance.
Growing discontent
Several observers are looking at the situation from a broader perspective. Badakhshan province borders China, Tajikistan, and Pakistan, and remained outside the control of the first Taliban regime in the 1990s, along with Panjshir. At present, it could once again become one of the country's main hotbeds of instability.
For now, little information is available on the Homeland Soldiers' Front. According to some sources, it includes 1,300-1,400 fighters, mostly former members of the security forces of the previous Afghan government, led by Qayum Malang, a former special forces commander.
Other local media claim it is a diverse group of activists, former military personnel, and local residents tired of Taliban control.
This situation is reminiscent of what happened in Herat last month, when the morality police of the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue detained several women accused of violating the dress code imposed by the Taliban.
When residents of the Jebrail neighbourhood took to the streets to protest the arrests, Taliban forces responded by opening fire on the population.
While the United Nations confirmed the death of an eleven-year-old boy, local sources report at least two teenagers killed and more than 20 wounded.
A few days later, the Taliban sent armoured vehicles into the city to quell a second demonstration in front of the governor's offices.
Despite the harsh repression, tensions remain high, especially in predominantly Hazara neighbourhoods. Like other non-Pashtun minorities in the country, the Hazara have long suffered discrimination and persecution under the Taliban.
China has set its sights on Badakhshan gold mines
In the case of Badakhshan province, however, the general discontent is compounded by internal tensions among the Taliban. On 22 June, Juma Khan Fateh, an ethnic Tajik Taliban commander, was removed from his post by a decree of Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada, after months of disagreements with the central leadership over control of mineral resources.
Badakhshan sits on one of Afghanistan's richest gold deposits. However, in recent years, the Taliban have outsourced much of the mining to foreign companies, primarily Chinese, along with some Turkish firms.
In Shahr-e-Buzurg, a district about 50 kilometres from the city of Faizabad, the once informal activity of residents, who sifted riverbeds with rudimentary tools, has been gradually incorporated into concessions managed by Taliban officials with Chinese partners.
Vast areas have been fenced off and are now guarded by armed men, with the local population kept away from the resources that previously guaranteed their livelihood.
On 15 July, police in the Shakai district ordered local miners to remove their equipment from the Qitqati mining area within a week. According to residents, such a measure risks depriving entire families of their only source of income.
This also affects the Yaftal area, where the armed attack took place. Gold mining is also concentrated in the neighbouring districts of Raghistan, Kuran, and Minjan.
The Taliban retain at least a quarter of the revenue, but the central government has never made public the texts of the contracts signed with foreign companies or the actual figures for mining profits, fuelling the sense among residents that the province's resources are being exploited without any return for those who live there.
The pressure of ongoing repatriations
Complicating the economic and social situation is the migratory pressure along the borders.
Taliban deputy spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat reported that over the weekend, 4,415 people returned to Afghanistan through border crossings in a single day, more than 3,800 through the Torkham crossing on the border with Pakistan.
These numbers are part of a flow that has grown in recent years due to ongoing tensions with Pakistan, which expelled a million Afghans in 2025 alone, according to the International Organisation for Migration.
Those who return often settle in informal camps in areas not under stable Taliban control, struggling with a disastrous economic situation marked by poverty and a blockade of international aid. All of these factors end up amplifying social tensions that lead to incidents like those in Badakhshan and Herat.
