GENEVA: The United Nations has said there are “credible allegations” of more than 100 extrajudicial killings in the country. Afghanistan Since then Taliban Taking power in August, the country’s new rulers were most likely to be blamed.
UN deputy authority chief Nada al-Nashifi He said he was deeply concerned by the constant reports of such killings despite a general amnesty The Taliban made the announcement after their August 15 takeover.
“Between August and November, we received credible allegations of more than 100 killings of former Afghan national security forces and others linked to the former government,” she told the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday.
“At least 72 of these killings,” she said, “were attributed to the Taliban”.
“In many cases, dead bodies were displayed in public. This has heightened fear among this large segment of the population,” she said.
Taliban Foreign Ministry Spokesperson abdul kahr balkhi Said that the government was “fully committed” to the amnesty decree, and denied that employees of the previous administration were being persecuted.
He added that anyone “found in violation of the amnesty decree will be prosecuted and punished”.
“The incidents will be thoroughly investigated but baseless rumours should not be taken at face value.”
Al-Nasif, who presented Tuesday’s update to the council on behalf of UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet, said several members of the jihadist Islamic State-Khorasan group – a main Taliban enemy – were also killed.
“In Nangarhar province alone… there appears to be a pattern of at least 50 non-judicial killings on suspicion of being members of ISIL-KP,” she said, “with reports of brutal methods … hanging. , including beheading”, and public display of corpses”.
In a report released on Wednesday, Amnesty International also said Taliban members tortured and killed ethnic and religious minorities, former Afghan soldiers and suspected government sympathizers as they seized control of Afghanistan in July and August. Was.
“Our new evidence shows that far from the seamless transition of power the Taliban claimed, the people of Afghanistan have once again paid with their lives,” Amnesty Secretary General Agnes Callamard said.
“Houses, hospitals, schools and shops were turned into crime scenes because people were repeatedly killed and injured. The people of Afghanistan have suffered for too long, and the victims must receive justice and reimbursement.”
Amnesty said the full scale of the killings is unknown.
The United Nations and Amnesty’s comments come after the United States and other countries condemned the Taliban earlier this month after Human Rights Watch reported 47 summary executions.
The killings were of former members of the Afghan National Security Forces, other military personnel, police and intelligence agents who “surrendered to Taliban forces or were captured” from mid-August to October.
Taliban spokesman Qari Syed Khosti dismissed the HRW report and other claims of nonjudicial killings as “not based on evidence”.
In his update on Tuesday, al-Nasif depicted the profound humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, which he said took many to survive, including child labor and even the alleged “sale of children”. Was being “inspired to take depressing measures”.
The UN says more than 23 million Afghans – more than half the population – will face “acute” food shortages in the winter months, forcing millions to choose between migration and starvation.
The United Nations’ World Food Program said on Tuesday that its latest surveys estimated 98 percent of Afghans were not consuming enough food – a 17 percentage point increase since August.
“Afghanistan is facing an avalanche of hunger and deprivation that I have never seen before,” Mary-Ellen McGorty, WFP’s country director for Afghanistan, said in a statement.
The crisis is due to the combined effects of a drought caused by global warming, and the economic slowdown exacerbated by the international community’s decision to pool funds to the aid-dependent nation after the Taliban takeover.
Al-Nasif warned that “the difficult policy choices that member states make at this critical juncture to prevent economic collapse are literally life and death.”
She expressed particular concern over severe sanctions on women and girls since the Taliban takeover, despite pledges of a softer regime than in her first term in power in the 1990s.
UN deputy authority chief Nada al-Nashifi He said he was deeply concerned by the constant reports of such killings despite a general amnesty The Taliban made the announcement after their August 15 takeover.
“Between August and November, we received credible allegations of more than 100 killings of former Afghan national security forces and others linked to the former government,” she told the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday.
“At least 72 of these killings,” she said, “were attributed to the Taliban”.
“In many cases, dead bodies were displayed in public. This has heightened fear among this large segment of the population,” she said.
Taliban Foreign Ministry Spokesperson abdul kahr balkhi Said that the government was “fully committed” to the amnesty decree, and denied that employees of the previous administration were being persecuted.
He added that anyone “found in violation of the amnesty decree will be prosecuted and punished”.
“The incidents will be thoroughly investigated but baseless rumours should not be taken at face value.”
Al-Nasif, who presented Tuesday’s update to the council on behalf of UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet, said several members of the jihadist Islamic State-Khorasan group – a main Taliban enemy – were also killed.
“In Nangarhar province alone… there appears to be a pattern of at least 50 non-judicial killings on suspicion of being members of ISIL-KP,” she said, “with reports of brutal methods … hanging. , including beheading”, and public display of corpses”.
In a report released on Wednesday, Amnesty International also said Taliban members tortured and killed ethnic and religious minorities, former Afghan soldiers and suspected government sympathizers as they seized control of Afghanistan in July and August. Was.
“Our new evidence shows that far from the seamless transition of power the Taliban claimed, the people of Afghanistan have once again paid with their lives,” Amnesty Secretary General Agnes Callamard said.
“Houses, hospitals, schools and shops were turned into crime scenes because people were repeatedly killed and injured. The people of Afghanistan have suffered for too long, and the victims must receive justice and reimbursement.”
Amnesty said the full scale of the killings is unknown.
The United Nations and Amnesty’s comments come after the United States and other countries condemned the Taliban earlier this month after Human Rights Watch reported 47 summary executions.
The killings were of former members of the Afghan National Security Forces, other military personnel, police and intelligence agents who “surrendered to Taliban forces or were captured” from mid-August to October.
Taliban spokesman Qari Syed Khosti dismissed the HRW report and other claims of nonjudicial killings as “not based on evidence”.
In his update on Tuesday, al-Nasif depicted the profound humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, which he said took many to survive, including child labor and even the alleged “sale of children”. Was being “inspired to take depressing measures”.
The UN says more than 23 million Afghans – more than half the population – will face “acute” food shortages in the winter months, forcing millions to choose between migration and starvation.
The United Nations’ World Food Program said on Tuesday that its latest surveys estimated 98 percent of Afghans were not consuming enough food – a 17 percentage point increase since August.
“Afghanistan is facing an avalanche of hunger and deprivation that I have never seen before,” Mary-Ellen McGorty, WFP’s country director for Afghanistan, said in a statement.
The crisis is due to the combined effects of a drought caused by global warming, and the economic slowdown exacerbated by the international community’s decision to pool funds to the aid-dependent nation after the Taliban takeover.
Al-Nasif warned that “the difficult policy choices that member states make at this critical juncture to prevent economic collapse are literally life and death.”
She expressed particular concern over severe sanctions on women and girls since the Taliban takeover, despite pledges of a softer regime than in her first term in power in the 1990s.
,