National Post ePaper

TALIBAN EXECUTING EX-SECURITY FORCES, WITNESSES SAY

Taliban members are kidnapping and killing members of the former Afghan police and army despite a promise to give amnesty, witnesses have claimed.

At least 100 former soldiers, police, intelligence officers and militiamen have disappeared, or been executed, in just four of the country’s provinces since the Taliban takeover in August.

The wave of killing, reprisal and score-settling has come despite assurances that the Taliban’s newly restored Islamic emirate would not seek revenge on members of Ashraf Ghani’s administration, Human Rights Watch said.

Instead, a registration process, where former security forces are screened and disarmed in return for amnesty, is being used to pick targets for retribution, a Human Rights Watch report said.

“The Taliban leadership’s promised amnesty has not stopped local commanders from summarily executing or disappearing former Afghan security force members,” said Patricia Gossman of Human Rights Watch. “The burden is on the Taliban to prevent further killings, hold those responsible to account and compensate the victims’ families.”

The report adds to fears that former members of the Afghan military who worked with coalition forces are being targeted after the international withdrawal.

The Taliban movement used one of its first Kabul news conferences after the fall of Kabul to give assurances that members of the former administration would not be targeted.

But witnesses to the killings said victims had been told, “There is no forgiveness for people like you.”

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2021-11-30T08:00:00.0000000Z

2021-11-30T08:00:00.0000000Z

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