Kunduz residents and officials on Monday complained that the Taliban recently imposed price regulations on goods being sold in some areas in the province.

According to locals, the Taliban have capped prices of certain goods including foodstuffs and rental prices of vehicles. They have also reportedly banned the sale of imported frozen white meat.

They said the Taliban is exploiting a weak local government and state that government should be ashamed.  

“This indicates the weakness of government’s sovereignty, the government must take action and prevent Taliban from such moves, government must undertake military operations and hit the Taliban’s main centers,” said senator Safiullah Hashimi.

“This has happened in Chahardara district, several areas in Chahardara are under the control of the Taliban,” said a member of Kunduz’s provincial council Ghulam Rabbani Rabbani.

Residents warned that if they are allowed to get away with this, there will be serious consequences for government.  

“This quite shameful for the government, it was supposed to be announced by the government and not the Taliban,” said a resident of Kunduz Shuja.

This new development comes a week after the Taliban reportedly carried out a public lashing against six people accused of theft in Qarabaghi district of Ghazni province.

“Military operations need to be launched, is there corruption, why have operations not started. We are two months away from spring, they must tackle Taliban now,” said another resident Ejazulhaq.

Ghazni Police Chief Aminullah Amarkhail also said that some Taliban commanders and their relatives had raped girls in Ghazni province.
 
“The entire people of Ghazni are aware that large numbers of Taliban commanders and their relatives are involved in sexual assaults against women; if they (Taliban) claim to be the defenders of the Sharia  (Islamic laws), then Taliban must implement Sharia on their own commanders,” said Amarkhail.

According to Amarkhail, the Taliban’s Quetta Shura (council) has also suspended several key Taliban commanders in Ghazni following their defeat by the Afghan security forces.

But, security institutions have said that by suspending commanders, the Taliban is trying to mislead the public into believed they have not faced major setbacks on the battlefields.