Taliban Vice Director of Virtue Promotion Killed in Kunduz Attack, Resistance Claims

The National Resistance Front of Afghanistan has claimed responsibility for a nighttime armed assault that targeted the Taliban’s deputy administrative director of the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue in Kunduz province. According to the group, the attack took place around 9:30 PM on Wednesday, October 23, in Naseri Alley along the main Kunduz-Baghlan road.

In an official statement, the Resistance Front said that Qari Bashir, the Taliban’s deputy head of the department in Kunduz province, was killed along with one of his bodyguards. Two other Taliban members were reportedly seriously wounded. The group added that their operatives sustained no casualties during the operation.

As of now, the Taliban have not commented on the claim. The National Resistance Front has previously issued reports of attacks against Taliban affiliates in various parts of the country, which have generally not been independently verified or denied.

Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021, the National Resistance Front has emerged as an armed opposition group operating in several provinces, particularly in the north and northeast. Targeted assaults against Taliban members are described by the group as part of its broader strategy to exert military and political pressure on the Taliban regime.