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23-08-2023
Bureau Report + Agencies
UNITED NATIONS/ KABUL/ ISLAMABAD: More than 200 former Afghan soldiers and officials have been killed extra judicially since August 2021, despite a general amnesty announced by the Taliban immediately after its takeover, the United Nations mission in Afghanistan has said.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) in its first report since the Taliban takeover two years ago, has documented 800 cases of serious human rights violations, including arbitrary arrests and detentions, torture and ill-treatment and enforced disappearances.
UNAMA recorded almost half of all extrajudicial killings of former government officials and Afghan security forces during the first four months of Taliban rule. But violations continued in 2022, with 70 extrajudicial killings recorded.
“UNAMA’s report presents a sobering picture of the treatment of individuals affiliated with the former government and security forces of Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover of the country,” the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, said in a statement accompanying the release of the report on Tuesday.
“Even more so, given they were assured that they would be not targeted, it is a betrayal of the people’s trust,” Turk said, urging the Taliban to uphold international law and prevent further violations.
Days after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country in August 2021, the Taliban announced a “general amnesty” for government workers across Afghanistan and urged women to join its government.
Despite the pledge, the UN report documented more than 424 arbitrary arrests and detentions of former government officials and former members of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) and more than 144 instances of torture and ill-treatment.
Individuals interviewed by the UN agency described being beaten with pipes and cables, as well as receiving verbal threats and abuse.
UNAMA heard from family members whose relatives had been arrested or gone missing, their bodies found days or even months later. In some instances, individuals have never been found.
The report, covering the period from the Taliban takeover to June 30, 2023, said “impunity prevails” in Afghanistan, where efforts by the authorities to investigate and hold perpetrators accountable have been “extremely limited”.
