Afghan Witness Reports

This was the second raid on an alleged ISKP hideout in Kabul in 2023 - and comes at a time when several embassies and international organisations have suspended operations or evacuated staff over concerns of a large-scale attack.

The burning of the Quran provides a relatively easy opportunity for the Taliban to mobilise public opinion and protest – and position themselves as defenders of the Islamic faith

AW found 13 Taliban-linked accounts with the blue tick, though several have since lost their mark of verification.

While there have been many claims of public punishments in Afghanistan over the past four months, this was the first instance where AW investigators obtained visual confirmation.

The Taliban claimed that two key resistance commanders, Daud Khatar and Mansoor Jawanmard, were among the detainees, however, AW found no visual proof of commander Khatar’s arrest.

In an image and video shared on social media, AW investigators visually confirmed at least 16 victims of the attack.

The alleged suicide bomber, Abdul-Jabbar, was identified by AW investigators as one of the two attackers of the Kabul Longan Hotel last month, who was seen escaping by climbing down the hotel's balconies during the hotel attack.

Pro-Taliban social media activists accused female NGO workers of espionage and spreading immorality.

The death of the commander was confirmed by both Pro-Taliban social media users and the Andarab Resistance Front, who shared a statement on their Facebook page. Unconfirmed social media reports claim dozens of Andarab Resistance Front fighters were also killed after running out of ammunition.

Recent pledges to the new Islamic State Caliph featured multiple groups in Badakhshan, suggesting it may be an increased area of operations for ISKP.

In this in-depth report, Afghan Witness analyses the available information surrounding the ISKP attack on the Kabul Longan Hotel on December 12, 2022. Investigators matched the alleged suicide bomber of another ISKP attack on the Kabul Military Airport on January 1, 2023, to an individual filmed escaping in the aftermath of the hotel attack.

Afghan Witness spoke to a university student, and a professor who resigned after the Taliban’s announcement.