Residents of two remote districts in the northeastern Afghan province of Badakhshan have demanded more accountability and better treatment from the authorities after a Taliban crackdown on protests killed at least two people.
Protests broke on May 3 and 4 in the Darayim and Argo districts when the Taliban attempted to forcefully eradicate the poppy crop. The hard-line Islamist group banned poppy cultivation in April 2022 after returning to power in August 2021.
"People are willing to cooperate in eradicating their opium crops peacefully," Shamsuddin Mubarez, a young activist in Argo, told RFE/RL's Radio Azadi on May 6.
"People responsible for destroying the poppy crops should be locals from Badakhshan," he added while outlining their demands.
A resolution adopted by the residents of Argo also demands that Taliban authorities arrest and punish the perpetrators of the shooting that killed Abdul Basit, 23, a local farmer.
In Darayim, a resident speaking on condition of anonymity said that residents refused to talk to a Taliban delegation made up of provincial officials on May 5.
Nizamuddin, a farmer in Darayim's Qarlaq village, was killed. Three more protesters were injured after the Taliban fighters attempted to quell the protest that erupted after they began destroying the poppy crop on May 3.
"People want the Taliban government to hear our voice," a resident of Darayim told Radio Azadi. "But they acted dictatorially and didn’t listen to us."
Abdul Matin Qane, the spokesman for the Taliban-led Interior Ministry, told the BBC that local demands for prosecuting the Taliban security forces responsible for the killings in Badakhshan were "completely justified."
The Taliban government has appointed its army's chief of staff, Fasihuddin Fitrat, a native of Badakhshan, to head a delegation to negotiate with the protesting farmers in the province.
In a purported audio message on May 6, he urged locals to "urgently" end their protests because their agitation would be seen as a rebellion, which could prompt the Taliban to send security forces to quell any unrest.
At least one person was killed in similar protests in Badakhshan last year.
The Taliban ban has pushed the price of illicit opium in Afghanistan to $1,000. But it has pushed tens of thousands of impoverished farmers to extreme poverty because poppies were the best cash crop in the arid, mountainous country.
The Talibans internationally isolated government has so far failed to attract any significant international aid or investments to help Afghan poppy farmers.