Sayed Sufi Gardizi Released on Conditions, Taliban Orders Him to Leave Kabul

DID Press: Sayed Sufi Gardizi, a Shia figure considered close to Taliban Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, has been released after being detained by the Taliban on the condition that he leave Kabul and refrain from attending social gatherings and ceremonies, according to informed sources.

The sources said Taliban Justice Minister Abdul Hakim Sharae obtained a commitment from Gardizi upon his release that he would leave Kabul and would not participate in any social ceremonies or gatherings.

The sources also alleged that Gardizi’s hair and mustache were shaved during the detention and that the Taliban justice minister referred to him as “Mufsid fil-Arz” — a term commonly translated as “one who spreads corruption on earth.”

Gardizi is known as a Shia figure who has maintained close relations with Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Taliban’s acting interior minister. During the Taliban’s first period in power, he also served as the group’s district governor in Yakawlang district of Bamyan province.

In recent years, Gardizi had been among those advocating engagement and dialogue between Afghanistan’s Shia community and the Taliban.

Gardizi was previously detained in September along with several other Shia and Hazara figures after Taliban forces surrounded the Office for Public Relations of Hazara and Shia Elders in western Kabul. Reports at the time said he and two other prominent Shia figures were later released after about a week in detention.