Taliban punish loyalists; mass arrests over tricolor flag.
With strict policies and suppression of national symbols, the Taliban arrested more than 20 young men in Kandahar province solely for posting pictures of the Afghan tricolor flag on social media.
Local sources confirmed on Wednesday, July 30, that these arrests were made by Taliban’s Propaganda and Prohibition officers, coinciding with “National Flag Day.”
According to the sources, these individuals had mainly shared pictures of the flag of the former republic on Facebook.
Some of the detainees have been released after receiving a written commitment not to repeat such an act, but a number of others remain in detention.
The Taliban have previously officially banned the use of the tricolor flag and the national anthem of the republican era.
One of the detained citizens was taken to the relevant office after only a phone call from the Taliban’s well-known command forces and spent 24 hours in detention.
By imposing their white flag, the Taliban are trying to eliminate all the identity and historical symbols of the former republic and impose a unified political and cultural structure on Afghan society.
These attacks have not only targeted individual freedoms, but have also sparked a wave of dissatisfaction among young people and social media users.
This action by the Taliban once again shows that the peaceful use of national symbols is also considered a crime under this group’s government, and citizens are subject to arrest and pressure for expressing even the simplest of their beliefs.
