GUIDANCE NOTE
Last update: January 2023
In Afghanistan, a wide range of different groups and individuals can be considered as actors of persecution or serious harm, and a clear distinction between State and non-State actors within the meaning of Article 6 QD may be difficult to make.
The following subsections highlight the main actors of persecution or serious harm in Afghanistan in a non-exhaustive manner.
Taliban and affiliated groups
The Taliban claimed control of the entire territory of Afghanistan and no other actor reportedly exercised territorial control or constituted an existential threat to the Taliban’s authority as of June 2022.
Taliban de facto authorities
After assuming power, the Taliban dismissed the previous judiciary and issued several decrees and general guidance regarding the implementation of sharia. The de facto authorities were described as seeing ‘any challenge to [their] policies as a challenge to the faith itself.’ The Taliban also issued a wide range of directives related to their interpretation of religious norms, including with regard to extramarital relationships, dress code, attendance at prayers and music. The enforcement of issued restrictions was reported to vary across Afghanistan.
Human rights violations by the de facto authorities or by Taliban members included arbitrary arrests, incommunicado detention, the reported use of torture in detention, killings, abductions and enforced disappearances. Corporal and capital punishments, including following a de facto court judgment, were also reported.
Haqqani Network
The Haqqani Network has been described as the Taliban’s ‘best militarily equipped faction’. The network largely controls security in Afghanistan, including the security of the capital, Kabul, where Haqqani special forces operate military bases. Besides the post of de facto minister of interior, the Haqqani Network secured control of the de facto government’s intelligence, passports and migration portfolios.
The Haqqani Network is on the UN Security Council’s sanctions list and is known for having carried out high-profile attacks and suicide missions in Kabul in the past. As of May 2022, the Haqqani Network was viewed to maintain the closest ties to Al-Qaeda among the Taliban.
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda continued to maintain a low profile in Afghanistan, while the links between Al-Qaeda and the Taliban reportedly remained close and their relationship was underscored by the fact that Al-Qaeda’s core leadership, was residing in eastern Afghanistan.
Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), an organisation subordinate to Al-Qaeda’s core, has also been reported to keep a low profile inside Afghanistan, where most of its fighters are based. They include individuals from several south and southeast Asian countries. They were reportedly based in Helmand, Kandahar, Ghazni, Nimroz, Paktika and Zabul. Some AQIS fighters were embedded in Taliban combat units, and the group has been fighting alongside the Taliban, including during the sweeping takeover of Afghanistan in 2021.
Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP)
Activity of the ISKP has traditionally been concentrated in Kabul and in the country’s eastern provinces, notably Kunar and Nangarhar where the group continued to have a strong foothold, especially in rural areas. In November 2021, the UN Special Representative for Afghanistan remarked that ISKP appeared to have a presence in nearly all provinces. The bulk of ISKP fighters has been reported to be present in rural Kunar, Nangarhar and possibly Nuristan provinces. In the period from 1 January to 21 May 2022, there were documented attacks by the group in 11 provinces (compared to 6 provinces over the same period in 2021). As of June 2022, new areas of ISKP activity included parts of northern and western Afghanistan (e.g. Kunduz, Balkh, Farah, and Herat), as well as southern and south-eastern provinces like Kandahar, Paktya, and Parwan.
After the Taliban takeover in August 2021 ISKP shifted its focus to undermining the Taliban’s legitimacy. Since then, it has reportedly targeted Taliban security convoys, checkpoints and personnel while assassinating civilians of various profiles. It also continued to conduct large-scale attacks, in particular targeting Shia Hazara. During the period August 2021 – May 2022 ISKP conducted several large high-profile attacks, including an attack on Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport and attacks on Shia mosques in the cities of Kunduz and Kandahar, a military hospital in Kabul, a Shia Mosque in Mazar-e Sharif and a series of bombings in Mazar-e Sharif and Kabul.
Multiple attacks in Mazar-e Sharif and Kunduz cities showed that ISKP had improved its ability to operate and carry out attacks in northern Afghanistan. ISKP attacks in Kabul and in the north mainly hit civilian targets, while its attacks in other parts of the country targeted the Taliban.
Armed groups resisting the Taliban
National Resistance Front (NRF)
NRF was formed after the Taliban conquered Kabul in mid-August 2021. Based on its own account, NRF emerged in Panjshir Province and Andarab District of neighbouring Baghlan Province. Clashes involving NRF were also reported in Balkh, Samangan and in Badakhshan Provinces.
NRF has made attempts ‘to seize direct control of territory from the Taliban government’. While sources mentioned that NRF was the primary or ‘most well-developed’ anti-Taliban resistance movement, there was a lack of clarity as to which groups were affiliated with it. It has no clear chain of command and its capabilities appeared to be limited.
It has been noted, at the end of April 2022, that NRF had shown that they were able to hold some rural areas, remote valleys and mountainous terrain in places like Baghlan, parts of Takhar, Panjshir, parts of Badakhshan. In the Panjshir Valley, residents were reported as saying that attacks on Taliban positions were a regular occurrence and that dozens of people had been killed as of June 2022.
Other groups resisting the Taliban
Besides the NRF, a number of other anti-Taliban resistance groups and fighters operate in Afghanistan. While some groups declared allegiance with NRF other groups have not been associated with it. From February 2022 onwards, new anti-Taliban resistance groups had been formed in various parts of northern Afghanistan. Some of the groups announced their formation publicly. However, apart from claims published on social media, limited information was available on the numerical strength and operational capabilities of such groups. As of March 2022, none of these groups had demonstrated that they were capable of carrying out significant attacks.
The main groups are Afghanistan Islamic National and Liberation Movement, Afghanistan Freedom Front (AFF), The Turkestan Freedom Tigers, the National Resistance Council, the National Liberation Front of Afghanistan (NLFA), the Unknown Soldiers of Hazaristan, the allegedly Hazara-centred Freedom and Democracy Front and the Freedom Corps.
Other non-State actors
Human rights violations are also committed by other non-State actors, such as clans, tribes, (locally) powerful individuals, family members, criminal groups, etc.
The reach of a specific non-State actor depends on the individual case. The assessment may include aspects such as their family, tribal or other networks for tracing and targeting the applicant. The individual power positions of the applicant and the actor of persecution or serious harm should be assessed, taking into consideration their gender, social status, wealth, connections, etc.