An anti-Taliban group called Sepahiyan-e Mihan briefly seized the Yaftal-e Payeen district in Badakhshan province on July 17, 2026, disarming Taliban forces before withdrawing — the first publicly claimed operation by the group.

The incident highlights growing fractures in Taliban control, amid rising armed resistance (including NRF and other local groups), internal rifts, and broader grievances over repression, exclusion of women and minorities, and failure to curb terrorist groups like TTP.

The author argues that sustainable change in Afghanistan requires more than armed resistance — it needs a comprehensive political program centered on representative government, women’s rights, inclusion, accountability, and rejection of terrorism to offer a credible alternative to Taliban rule.

More than a security incident, it’s a brief seizure of the Yaftal-e Payeen district in the Badakhshan province of Afghanistan in the north-east. It’s a political message to a regime that has mistaken coercive control to be public consent. A new anti-Taliban group called Sepahiyan-e Mihan took over the district centre on 17 July 2026, where they disarmed Taliban and took away their weapons and military equipment before leaving. The Taliban admitted that their opponents had infiltrated the district headquarters, and local media stated that reinforcements of the police and army were sent and searches were conducted. The resistance was not able to permanently dislodge the Taliban, but the operation showed that the Taliban’s control is not as firm as their propaganda claims.

Yaftal is significant as a sign of the fractures of the Taliban in Afghanistan. The incident marked the first publicly admitted operation of Sepahiyan-e Mihan, a group which is thought to be comprised of locals, activists and former security officers. Anti-Taliban attacks, differences between the different Taliban commanders and mine and revenue disputes have........

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