When the fighting between the Taliban and Mawlawi Mahdi began around two weeks ago, thousands of Balkhab residents were displaced, fleeing their villages and homes for safety.
Fifteen families, mostly women and children, took refuge in Zard Tala valley in Bamyan province after days of walking through the mountains and valleys. They have been living in the open air in miserable conditions since they arrived here around ten days ago.
“The pains and the problems that we have gone through are inexpressible,” said Gul Bibi, 29, who fled the fighting with her children. She and her children sat in the shadow of a cliff in Zard Tala to protect themselves from the scorching sun.
Gul Bibi said her husband had newly built a house in Gulwarz village of Balkhab district but now the Taliban are using it as a military base. She added the family didn’t have much time to pack their belongings and take them when they left because their house is close to the main road and the Taliban arrived there quickly.
“We couldn’t take anything with us. We didn’t even have the chance to take some additional clothes for my children,” she said, weeping. “Now we don’t have anything to wear and eat.” She added her children were sleeping in hole because it is warmer there during the cold nights.
The United Nations humanitarian assistance mission in Afghanistan, UNOCHA, said 27,000 residents of Balkhab district have been displaced following the clashes.
“Humanitarian partners are preparing to provide food, tents and other supplies to more than 10,000 people in Balkhab and 6,000 in Bamyan,” a statement posted on UNOCHA’s Twitter account said. But critics and displaced people said the process of aid delivery and relief efforts have been slow to nonexistent, and that the international organizations have not yet provided any aid to those affected.Bomana, a 27-year-old woman in Zard Tala, said she and her two children fled but her husband and one child are missing.“I don’t know if they are alive or dead,” she said. Bomana said her children have no food to eat. “We had half a loaf of bread and ate it today. We don’t have anything left,” she added.
Noorjan, a 30-year-old woman, said she and her five children walked from Gulwarz village of Balkhab to Zard Tala valley in Bamyan, a distance of about 100 kilometers.
Noorjan added that she could only take a blanket and a pressure cooker when they fled. She also alleged that the Taliban fighters broke into her house and stole anything they could after she left.
The depth of the tragedy is still unknown because the situation is still military, and the Taliban don’t allow anyone to roam freely in the district.
The Taliban killed civilians after they took control of Balkhab, local residents and international human rights organizations have said.
Baz Mohammad, a 56-year-old man, said the Taliban killed 15 people in Gulwarz village alone.
They “were all civilians and had no involvement in fighting,” he said.
He requested a pseudonym to protect his identity. The Taliban even didn’t show mercy to shepherds, beggars and mentally ill people, according to him.
Another source, who spoke on the condition that we don’t publish his name, said at least two women were killed by the Taliban. The body of one was dumped into a river.
International human rights organizations voiced concern over the reports of atrocities in Balkhab soon after the clashes started.
The Taliban, however, have rejected all those reports, saying no civilian was harmed in the district.
A former local government employee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Balkhab has around 130,000 residents, and almost all of them have been displaced.
Some have fled to the remote villages, which are away from the frontlines, inside Balkhab district. Others have gone as far as Bamyan province.
The brutalities and lawlessness continued two weeks after the Taliban took control of the district. Mehran, a resident of Hoosh village, said the Taliban fighters are breaking into peoples’ houses to search for weapons, and sometimes steal their belongings. He said the Taliban fighters seized the motorbike of a man in Torkhach village by force on Monday, July 4. It was returned after the victim complained to the Taliban commander.
The killings also continued. Mehran said Isa Karbalai, a local farmer was granted permission to irrigate his land, but he was shot dead during the irrigation by the Taliban who later paid 630,000 Afghani as compensation to his family. Isa Karbalai and his family had fled Qalagak, their home village, but returned after five days, thinking the situation was back to normal.
Mehran isn’t his real name. He also requested a pseudonym for security reasons.
Shafi, who returned to his home in Balkhab with his family on Sunday, July 3, said some schools and private houses have been damaged in the clashes. He said he saw shattered windows and a burnt house. He said the Taliban mainly broke into big and fancy houses in Balkhab, which were abandoned during the clashes, to live and rest.
A local resident of Khawal Siagak village said the Taliban have turned around 20 private houses into military bases after the owners fled.
A large number of internally displaced people took refuge in Dar-e-Mazar, a remote village within Balkhab district. Farid, who himself is a displaced person in Dar-e-Mazar, said he saw an old man died recently due to lack of medicine and food.
