55-Year-Old Woman Allegedly Beaten by Taliban Police Commander in Takhar Dies

Gul Bibi, a 55-year-old woman reportedly assaulted by a Taliban police commander in the Darqad district of Takhar province, has succumbed to her injuries in hospital.

Sources from Takhar indicate that two days ago, the Taliban police commander in Darqad allegedly subjected this woman, along with several other women, to a severe beating over a longstanding land dispute.

Local sources shared images and details of the incident with Afghanistan International on Sunday.

According to these sources, Gul Bibi and a group of other women in Darqad district had clashed with a local Taliban commander and his associates over their attempts to take over the women’s land and destroy their crops. In response to the women’s resistance, the Taliban officials, allegedly in collusion with “a local land-grabber and bully,” intervened to forcibly remove the women from the property.

This land dispute has reportedly been a contentious issue for many years.

Sources added that when the women prevented the destruction of their crops, Taliban officials, including the district deputy and the police commander, arrived at the scene in the evening to pressure the women to withdraw. According to reports, Abdul Khaliq, the Taliban police commander in Darqad, beat the women when they refused the Taliban’s demand to vacate the land.

Gul Bibi, who was reportedly beaten more severely than the others, was transported to hospital. Sources report that she was initially taken to Taloqan and later transferred to a hospital in Kunduz, where she remained in a coma for approximately 24 hours before passing away on Saturday night.

Her children and relatives brought her body back to Darqad district for burial on Sunday. Local sources provided Afghanistan International with images of the funeral and burial ceremonies, which show Gul Bibi lying on a hospital bed under an oxygen machine, with visible bruises from the assault. Medical records from the Kunduz Regional Hospital, detailing her injuries, have also been shared with Afghanistan International.

In one video, a woman standing beside Gul Bibi’s body identifies herself as a “witness” to the assault and accuses Abdul Khaliq, the Taliban police commander in Darqad, of being the “murderer” of Gul Bibi.

Following the incident and the woman’s death, residents of Darqad district staged protests, prompting the Taliban to deploy forces to suppress the demonstrations.

Taliban officials have yet to issue any statement regarding the incident.