Human Rights Watch: More than 100 Afghan security forces “killed or missing”
According to a Human Rights Watch report, a number of former Afghan government security forces have been “killed or disappeared” since the Taliban regained power. However, the Taliban denied that members of the group had killed former government soldiers.
According to a report by Human Rights Watch (HRW), a number of former Afghan security forces have been killed or disappeared since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan. The report, published on November 30, stated that Taliban forces have executed or disappeared more than 100 former soldiers, police officers, or former national security forces in four of Afghanistan's 34 provinces.
According to the Dari section of Deutsche Welle, the 25-page report documents the executions or disappearances of former members of the security forces, police, and pro-government militias who surrendered to Taliban forces or were detained from August 15 to late October.
The Human Rights Watch report indicates that more than 100 former members of the security forces may have been killed or missing in Ghazni, Helmand, Kandahar, and Kunduz provinces alone.
The Taliban leadership has ordered members of the group to record the names of members of units that have surrendered. They have also been able to obtain documents and employment records left over from the previous government. They have reportedly used this information to arrest or kill former security forces.
After regaining power in Afghanistan, the Taliban leadership issued a general amnesty for all security forces, and this issue has been emphasized many times after the fall of Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. Many provinces and Kabul, the capital, fell to the Taliban largely without a fight. In many provinces, security forces surrendered en masse to the Taliban.
“The promised amnesty for Taliban leaders has not prevented local Taliban commanders from executing or disappearing former members of the Afghan security forces,” said Patricia Gossman, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
Human Rights Watch said on its website that it interviewed 40 people in person and 27 by phone in four provinces. The group said they included witnesses, relatives and friends of victims, former government officials, journalists, health workers, and Taliban members.
Taliban reaction
In response to the Human Rights Watch report, the Taliban said it had dismissed 755 perpetrators of abuses and established a military court to investigate killings, torture, and illegal detentions. The group did not provide any information to support its claim.
The Taliban have rejected the report today, Tuesday, December 29, calling it an accusation. Saeed Khosti, a spokesman for the Taliban's Ministry of Interior, told Deutsche Welle in response to the report's publication: "The Mujahideen are not allowed to kill, threaten, or persecute employees of the former government."
He did not deny that incidents such as the killing of former soldiers had occurred, but said that they were not killed by Taliban members, but by “personal enemies.” He added: “They committed oppression and persecuted the people during the previous government, and now the people are targeting them.”
Source: DW
