Taliban accused of killing, disappearing 100 ex-security officers.
Kabul, Nov 30 (EFE).- The Taliban forces have executed or forcibly disappeared more than 100 former Afghan police and intelligence officers, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday, documenting extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances in the last more than four months of the extremist regime.
The rights group, in a 25-page HRW report, said the Taliban killed or forced into disappearance 47 former members of the Afghan National Security Forces who had surrendered or were apprehended by Taliban forces between Aug.15 and Oct.31.
The group said it had “gathered credible information” on more than 100 killings from Ghazni, Helmand, Kandahar, and Kunduz provinces.
“The Taliban leadership’s promised amnesty has not stopped local commanders from summarily executing or disappearing former Afghan security force members,” said Patricia Gossman, associate Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
“The burden is on the Taliban to prevent further killings, hold those responsible to account, and compensate the victims’ families.”
The group claimed it had interviewed 40 people in person in the four provinces and another 27 by telephone, namely witnesses, relatives and friends of victims, former government officials, journalists, healthcare workers, and Taliban members.
A Taliban commander said that those responsible for atrocities “cannot be forgiven.”
The Taliban leadership has directed members of surrendering security force units to register to receive a letter guaranteeing their safety.
“However, Taliban forces have used these screenings to detain and summarily execute or forcibly disappear people within days after they register, leaving their bodies for their relatives or communities to find,” the report alleged.
The executions and disappearances have generated fear among former government officials and others who might have believed that the Taliban takeover would bring an end to the revenge attacks that had been characteristic of Afghanistan’s armed conflict.
“The Taliban’s unsupported claims that they will act to prevent abuses and hold abusers to account appears, so far, to be nothing more than a public relations stunt,” Gossman said.
“The lack of accountability makes clear the need for continued UN scrutiny of Afghanistan’s human rights situation, including robust monitoring, investigations, and public reporting.” EFE
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