Informed sources have told Zamaneh that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) inside Iran is tracking and interrogating officials and employees of the former Afghan government. The narratives of two of these employees is documented below.
Kabul – After the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan, a large number of Afghan officers and forces fled to Iran and are living there. However, information from Zamaneh’s sources indicates that some of these individuals are being pursued and interrogated in the Islamic Republic of Iran for sharing certain confidential [Muharram] issues about Afghanistan.
Ahmad, a pseudonym for one of the district governors in the city of Lashkar Gah, the center of Helmand Province, says that he fled to Iran through the Silk Road border in Nimroz Province two years and four months ago, after the fall of Helmand to the Taliban. He currently resides in one of the cities of Iran. Ahmad says, “For the past two months, I have been in a very bad situation because the IRGC forces have called me twice and want me to provide information about certain topics; things that I have no knowledge of.”
He adds, “I left Helmand out of fear of the Taliban, to live in Iran without fear. Now, here, I am being asked about things that I know will make my future difficult whether I cooperate or not. For this reason, they are putting pressure on me under various pretexts to either cooperate with the IRGC forces or leave Iran and go back to Afghanistan.”
Ahmad says that in Iran, he has made contacts with some of the elders of the former government and with members of the leadership of the People’s Resistance Council led by Amir Ismail Khan in the city of Mashhad, Iran, but it is still unclear what his fate in Iran will be.
Tamim, the name of one of the former Afghan government employees, has a similar story. He says that after the fall of Kabul, he headed to Tehran with his family to reach Italy, but after a year in Iran, he was questioned for various reasons until he was finally forced to leave the country and return to Kabul.
According to Tamim, he was interrogated several times by Iranian government forces because he had served in the public protection forces and had information in this regard. He was asked to provide information about the Kamal Khan Dam in Nimroz Province.
He says, “When I refused to respond, I was forced to leave Iran under various pretexts, and then I left the country.”
This Afghan soldier adds that he has shared the issue with the officials of the Ministry of Interior of the Taliban government and told them that other former Afghan government forces in Iran are also facing the same problem, but he does not know what approach the Taliban will take in this regard.
Zamaneh cannot independently confirm the narratives of these individuals. However, this is not the first time that Afghans residing in Iran have reported that the IRGC forces question various individuals to find out certain secrets. This approach has continued in various forms for years.
