UN report says Taliban killed 100 ex-Afghan govt officials, others
- 31 Jan 2022
Gulf Today Report
The United Nations has received “credible allegations” that more than 100 former members of the Afghan government, its security forces and those who worked with international troops have been killed since the Taliban took over the country on August 15, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says.
In a report obtained on Sunday by the media, Guterres said that "more than two-thirds” of the victims were alleged to result from extrajudicial killings by the Taliban or its affiliates, despite the Taliban’s announcement of "general amnesties” for those affiliated with the former government and US-led coalition forces.
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The report describes severe curtailing of human rights by Afghanistan's new fundamentalist rulers. In addition to the political killings, women's rights and the right to protest have also been curbed.
The UN political mission in Afghanistan also received "credible allegations of extrajudicial killings of at least 50 individuals suspected of affiliation with ISIL-KP,” the Daesh extremist group operating in Afghanistan, Guterres said in the report to UN Security Council.
Guterres said that "more than two-thirds” of the victims were alleged to result from extrajudicial killings by the Taliban.
"Despite announcements of general amnesties for former members of the Government, security forces and those who worked with international military forces, UNAMA continued to receive credible allegations of killings, enforced disappearances, and other violations towards these individuals," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres's report said.
He added that despite Taliban assurances, the UN political mission has also received credible allegations "of enforced disappearances and other violations impacting the right to life and physical integrity” of former government and coalition members.
Afghanistan is in the grip of a humanitarian disaster, worsened by the Taliban takeover that prompted Western countries to freeze international aid and access to billions of dollars' worth of assets held abroad.
The country was almost entirely dependent on foreign aid under the previous US-backed government, but jobs have dried up and most civil servants haven't been paid for months.
No country has yet recognised the Taliban government, with most watching to see how the hardline militants — notorious for human rights abuses during their first stint in power — restrict freedoms.