Key Points
- Freedom Front attacked a Taliban regime checkpoint in Kapisa.
- United Front reported operations in Helmand and Zabul.
- Resistance Front targeted a Taliban regime checkpoint in Badakhshan.
- United Front also expanded its messaging campaign in Herat.
- Armed groups are targeting different layers of Taliban regime security.
ISLAMABAD: Afghan resistance forces have intensified operations against the Taliban regime across Kapisa, Helmand, Zabul, Badakhshan and Herat provinces.
The latest activity indicates that opposition groups are attempting to maintain pressure on the Taliban regime across geographically separated parts of Afghanistan, targeting checkpoints, military personnel and other members of the regime’s security and enforcement structures.
On September 9, the Afghanistan Freedom Front (AFF) said its fighters attacked a Taliban checkpoint stationed at a former Afghan National Army base in Tagab district of Kapisa province.
According to the AFF, three Taliban personnel were killed and two others wounded in the attack. The front said the operation took place at about 8 pm and that none of its fighters was harmed.
The operation came amid a broader increase in anti-Taliban activity. The AFF had also reported an attack the previous day in Kunar province, where it claimed one Taliban member was killed and two wounded at a former Afghan army base.
Pressure across provinces
On September 11, the Afghanistan United Front (AUF) reported targeted operations in Lashkargah, the capital of Helmand province, claiming that two Taliban personnel were killed.
The group also reported another operation in Zabul province targeting a Taliban member affiliated with the 3rd Brigade of Corps 205, killing him.
In Badakhshan, the National Resistance Front (NRF) said it attacked a Taliban regime checkpoint in the Danishabad area of Yaftal-e Payan district late on September 10.
The NRF said the fighting began at about 11 pm and continued for approximately 40 minutes, leaving three Taliban regime personnel wounded.
Badakhshan has become one of the most active areas of anti-Taliban resistance in recent months. In July, a newly formed resistance group briefly seized the Yaftal district centre before withdrawing, marking the first reported temporary loss of a district centre by the Taliban since its return to power in 2021.
The resistance activity also took a political and public dimension in Herat.
On September 11, the AUF distributed leadership messages and religious scholars’ fatwas at 28 locations across Herat city, including Lala-i Market, Qala-i Ikhtiyaruddin, Mustafa Chowk, Bagh-i Millat and Chahar Bagh.
The move reflects an effort to challenge Taliban rule not only through armed operations but also through competing political and religious messaging.
Growing resistance
The concentration of operations across five provinces exposes mounting pressure on Taliban intelligence, military and enforcement structures.
Repeated attacks against Taliban personnel and checkpoints, combined with resistance messaging in major urban areas, challenge the regime’s ability to impose uncontested authority through coercion.
Resistance forces have announced continuation of their multidimensional campaign against the Taliban regime, demonstrating that opposition remains active across geographically separated areas.
The pattern is significant. Resistance is reaching multiple provinces, targeting different layers of the Taliban security apparatus and penetrating urban spaces.
The Taliban’s coercive measures have failed to eliminate opposition, while repeated attacks expose vulnerabilities within its intelligence, military and enforcement machinery.
Nevertheless, the spread of resistance across five provinces in three days directly challenges the Taliban regime’s narrative of stability and uncontested authority.
Five years after the Taliban returned to power, the emergence of multiple armed fronts, particularly in provinces as far apart as Badakhshan, Kapisa, Helmand and Zabul, suggests that the regime continues to face an active internal opposition despite its control over the state apparatus.
