Afghan Witness Reports

The incident marked the second clash between farmers and the Taliban over poppy eradication enforcement, after a similar incident occurred in Nangarhar in April.

Faced with a moral dilemma, an Afghan journalist says he must choose between working for Taliban-approved media, or risking his life to report independently.

The Taliban claim to have killed various high-ranking and influential ISKP members, though verifiable evidence is limited.

The economic impact of poppy eradication on local communities, and the lack of alternative forms of income, have the potential to spark confrontations.

By dismissing stories as ‘fake news’ and identifying fake profiles, the account utilises the weight and language of the ‘fact-checking’ brand, without doing the meaningful verification work required.

This was the second ISKP-claimed attack targeting the Tebyan centre. In December 2017, the group claimed a suicide bombing at the Tebyan Cultural Centre in Kabul.

The explosion occurred on the same road – in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – as the January 11 suicide bombing claimed by ISKP.

In recent weeks, there has been a spate of incidents in Mazar-i-Sharif and Herat city in which the Taliban have displayed the bodies of men they describe as ‘kidnappers’, ‘insurgents’ or ‘thieves’.

This is the first time ISKP have directly addressed reports of a Taliban raid.

After eight weeks without any high-profile attacks in Afghanistan, ISKP target two high-ranking officials on consecutive days.

Interviews with women in the sector reveal that some organisations have replaced their female directors with men to allow operations to continue, while one president of a women-focused NGO says she is using her personal savings to keep office doors open.

While one of the protesters was reportedly released the next day, women's rights protester Narges Sadat is thought to still be in detention.