‘I went under the bridge to collect some drugs. Just then I felt a hand grab me from behind. They were Taliban men, and they came to get us.’ Mohammed Omar said. He was then under a bridge named Pul-e-Sukhta at the western edge of Kabul city. Taliban soldiers suddenly appeared there.
This place is a known haunt of drug addicts in Kabul. The Pul-e-Sukhta area has been notorious since long before the hardline Islamist group returned to power in Afghanistan in August 2021. BBC news
The Taliban have been on an offensive for the past few months. Apart from this bridge area, they are also picking up drug addicts from parks or hilltops in Kabul.
Most of them were first taken to a former US military base – which has now been converted into a makeshift rehabilitation center for drug addicts.
Omar said, ‘I used to go there to meet friends and get drunk. I was not afraid of life, because death is in the hands of God.’
Omar said, ‘They used pipes to beat us. I didn’t want to leave the bridge, I tried to stop them, I broke a finger. In the end they managed to drive us away.’
The Taliban government released the video of the incident. It shows Taliban soldiers removing bodies of drug overdose victims from under the bridge. The dead bodies are being carried away wrapped in gray cloth. Several others were alive but unconscious—they were being carried away on stretchers.
The healing center to which Omar was taken has 1,000 beds, but has 3,000 patients. The environment there is very dilapidated. Patients are kept there for about 40 days – during which time they go through an intensive program – after which they are released.
Most of the people the Taliban are taking off the streets are men. However, some women and children were among those taken to the treatment center.
Omar said, ‘Once I was a flight attendant of Cam Air. Dubai today, Turkey tomorrow, Iran the day after – that was my life.’
He said that he lost his job after the fall of Kabul. Financial difficulties and an uncertain future lead him to drugs.
He also said that since coming to the drug addiction treatment center, Omar has made a vow to get better.
Omar said, ‘I want to get married, live a normal life with a family. The doctors of this hospital are very kind, they are doing everything for our good.’
In the eyes of doctors, what is being done at this center is a very basic level of activity. The Taliban keep sending more people here, and staff are struggling to find places to house them.