Taliban militants (file photo)

8am: Abdullah (pseudonym) is one of the residents of the fourth security district of Kabul City. Speaking to the Hasht-e Subh Daily, he says that the Taliban exploited some women associated with them for extorting detained individuals. Abdullah states: “Some Taliban checkpoint commanders, especially in the fourth security district, gather information about individuals beforehand, and if they are convinced that his economic status is good or he is wealthy, they detain him at their checkpoint and then demand a large sum of money.” Abdullah adds: “Some women collaborate with the Taliban and rush to the checkpoint during the detention of individuals, claiming that I have an illegitimate relationship with this person. Then the Taliban threatened the detained person to pay money in exchange for his release, otherwise, they would report him to the morality police of the group.” Abdullah emphasizes that detained individuals are forced to pay this amount of money to the Taliban commanders to preserve their “honor and dignity.” Sources add that the Taliban’s demands range from one thousand Afghanis to fifteen thousand US dollars. Click here to read more (external link).