Rights group: Taliban killed, abducted dozens of ex-officers

Kabul, Afghanistan –

Taliban militants have unceremoniously killed or forcibly “disappeared” more than 100 former police and intelligence officials since it came to power in Afghanistan, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday in a report highlighting ongoing retaliation against the armed forces of the overthrown government despite an announced amnesty will.

Taliban forces have hunted down former officials using government employment files and targeted those who surrendered and received letters guaranteeing their safety, the report said. In some cases, local Taliban commanders have drawn up lists of targeted individuals stating that they committed “unforgivable” acts.

“The pattern of killings has sown terror across Afghanistan as no one associated with the former government can feel safe that they have escaped threats of retaliation,” the Human Rights Watch report said.

The Taliban took power on August 15 when they captured the capital, Kabul, when Afghanistan’s internationally-backed government collapsed. Kabul’s fall crowned an astonishingly rapid takeover by the insurgents who had captured a number of cities as US forces and their allies withdrew from Afghanistan after nearly 20 years of war.

Since then, the Taliban have struggled with the collapse of the country’s economy and faced an increasingly deadly uprising by Islamic State extremists.

Taliban troops have targeted people suspected of supporting Islamic State in eastern Nangarhar province, an epicenter of ISIS attacks, the report said. In the provincial capital, Jalalabad, there was a violent eight-hour gun battle on Tuesday when Taliban fighters raided a suspected ISIS hideout, witnesses said. Provincial intelligence chief Tahir Mobariz said a woman and a man in the house detonated suicide vests and died in the blasts during the fighting, and a third person was shot dead. Two suspected militants were arrested, he said.

The Taliban leadership has repeatedly stated that former government workers, including members of the armed forces, have nothing to fear from them. Former army officers said they had been ordered to surrender their weapons in exchange for a document confirming their surrender and ensuring their safety.

Taliban Prime Minister Mohammed Hassan Akhund denied in a public speech on Saturday that there was any retaliation.

When the Taliban took power, “they announced an amnesty for everyone. Was there an example of this? “He said, referring to retaliation.” There is no problem for anyone. “But he added that if a former security officer” continues his bad deed, he will be punished for the crime “.

Human Rights Watch said the promised amnesty did not prevent local commanders from retaliating against former members of the army, police and intelligence agencies.

“The Taliban must prevent further killings, hold those responsible accountable and compensate the victims’ families,” said Patricia Gossman, the organization’s deputy director for Asia.

Through interviews with witnesses, relatives, former government officials, Taliban officials and others, Human Rights Watch said it documented the murder or disappearance of 47 former military personnel in four provinces between August 15 and October 31, it said there were at least 53 other killings or enforced disappearances.

The research focused on the provinces of Ghazni, Kandahar, Kunduz and Helmand. “But the cases reflect a broader pattern of abuse,” say other provinces.

Taliban fighters have carried out night raids on homes to arrest former security officers or to threaten and abuse their loved ones in order to divulge their whereabouts, the report said. In several documented cases, the bodies of the detainees were later found dumped on the street.

While some “opportunist” killings occurred immediately after the Taliban came to power, “the killings and enforced disappearances seem to have become more conscious since then, as Taliban commanders … forces, it said.

In a case cited in the report, a former National Security Directorate named Abdul Qadir went into hiding in Kunduz province after the overthrow of the government and then reappeared to live with his in-laws. On August 25, he was stopped by Taliban fighters at a checkpoint. He admitted to having been a member of the NDS but pointed out the amnesty. The fighters held him anyway, and three days later his body was found by a river.

In Ghazni province, a former local police commander named Saadat disappeared after going to the market in mid-October. Local residents later brought his body to their homes and told relatives that he was killed on the street by armed men they believed were Taliban fighters.

The Taliban leadership announced in September that it would set up a commission to investigate reports of violations and crimes committed by their own militants. But the commission has only announced the arrest of some members for theft and the dismissal of others for corruption, Human Rights Watch said.

“The unsupported claims by the Taliban that they are preventing abuse and holding perpetrators accountable seem to be just a PR gag so far,” said Gossman.

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-11-30/taliban-kill-abduct-dozens-former-officers