{"id":9324,"date":"2023-10-13T05:57:25","date_gmt":"2023-10-13T05:57:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ago-af.org\/?p=9324"},"modified":"2023-10-13T05:57:25","modified_gmt":"2023-10-13T05:57:25","slug":"no-end-to-taliban-revenge-killings-in-afghanistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ago-af.org\/?p=9324","title":{"rendered":"No End to Taliban Revenge Killings in Afghanistan"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mb-8 md:mb-14\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"article-body article-body--contained rich-text mx-auto\">\n<p>A new\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/unama.unmissions.org\/human-rights\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">United Nations report<\/a>\u00a0on extrajudicial killings in Afghanistan under the Taliban makes for very grim reading. The report confirms fears about the Taliban\u2019s treatment of the former government\u2019s security force personnel.<\/p>\n<p>After the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021, its forces carried out revenge killings and enforced disappearances of former police, army, and intelligence officers. Two years later, such grave violations have not stopped.<\/p>\n<p>The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) found that the majority of killings and disappearances of former Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) took place in the four months immediately following the Taliban takeover. During that period, UNAMA documented 148 extrajudicial killings. UNAMA has documented another 70 extrajudicial killings taking place between January 1 and December 31, 2022, and has continued to document such incidents through 2023. On May 17, Taliban security personnel shot and killed a former Afghan army soldier in Takhar province.<\/p>\n<p>The Taliban have also arbitrarily detained former ANDSF members, providing no basis for their detention and frequently holding them incommunicado. Their families often say they have been given no information as to their whereabouts, or why they are being held. Such cases constitute\u00a0<span class=\"onomasticon onomasticon-cursor-default\" tabindex=\"0\" title=\"enforced disappearance\" data-tooltip=\"An enforced disappearance occurs when a person is held in custody by government officials or their agents followed by a refusal of the authorities to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or provide information on their fate or whereabouts. Enforced disappearances are committed outside of regular legal processes, which makes those detained at greater risk of being tortured or killed. They take a terrible toll on the relatives of the disappeared person, who may not learn of their loved one\u2019s fate for months or years \u2013 and frequently never.\" aria-label=\"Explain glossary term enforced disappearance\" data-once=\"enable_tooltips\">enforced disappearance<\/span>\u00a0under international law, and follow a pattern\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hrw.org\/report\/2021\/11\/30\/no-forgiveness-people-you\/executions-and-enforced-disappearances-afghanistan\">Human Rights Watch has documented.<\/a>\u00a0UNAMA cites a recent case in which the family of a former soldier visited numerous detention facilities in Paktya province trying to locate him. After three months, the Taliban returned his body to them.<\/p>\n<p>The UNAMA report also highlights the case of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hrw.org\/news\/2022\/04\/20\/afghanistan-herat-womens-prison-head-missing-6-months\">Alia Azizi<\/a>, the former head of the Women\u2019s Prison in Herat, who disappeared in October 2021 after Taliban authorities told her to return to her job, and remains missing.<\/p>\n<p>According to the report, Taliban officials have attempted to dismiss these killings and disappearances as based on \u201cpersonal enmity or revenge\u201d and to downplay the numbers. While they claim to have held their personnel accountable for violations, they have not made public the results of any investigations or punishments.<\/p>\n<p>Upon taking power, the Taliban leadership\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hrw.org\/report\/2021\/11\/30\/no-forgiveness-people-you\/executions-and-enforced-disappearances-afghanistan\">promised amnesty<\/a>\u00a0to former security force members, but this has not stopped local commanders from carrying out revenge attacks. The burden is on the Taliban leadership to prevent further killings, hold those responsible to account, and compensate the victims\u2019 families.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"mb-8 md:mb-14\">\n<div class=\"donation-block\">\n<div class=\"donation-block__content bg-cover bg-top bg-black text-white border-t-4 border-orange-500 md:bg-center\">\n<div class=\"donation-block__content-inner p-6 background-vert md:background-horz\">\n<div class=\"donation-block__form-wrapper pt-40 sm:pt-48 md:pt-0 md:w-1\/2\">\n<h2 class=\"donation-block__form-heading mb-6 text-xl sm:text-2xl leading-tight\"><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new\u00a0United Nations report\u00a0on extrajudicial killings in Afghanistan under the Taliban makes for very grim reading. The report confirms fears about the Taliban\u2019s treatment of the former government\u2019s security force personnel. After the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021, its forces carried out revenge killings and enforced disappearances of former police, army, and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9325,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[86],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ago-af.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ago-af.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ago-af.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ago-af.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ago-af.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9324"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ago-af.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9326,"href":"https:\/\/ago-af.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9324\/revisions\/9326"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ago-af.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ago-af.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ago-af.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ago-af.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}