A new report by Amnesty International revealed gruesome and brutal acts carried out by the Taliban in Afghanistan.
The group reported:
Taliban forces unlawfully killed 13 ethnic Hazaras, including a 17-year-old girl, in Afghanistan’s Daykundi province after members of the security forces of the former government surrendered, a new investigation by Amnesty International has revealed.
The murders occurred in the Kahor village of the Khidir district on August 30th. “Eleven of the victims were former members of the Afghan National Defence Security Forces (ANDSF), and two were civilians,” the group reported.
“According to eyewitness testimony gathered by Amnesty International, the Taliban extrajudicially executed nine of the ANDSF members after they had surrendered, killings that appear to be war crimes,” the group noted. Two civilians were also murdered as they tried to run away, including a 17-year-old girl who was shot as the Taliban fired into a group of people.
“These cold-blooded executions are further proof that the Taliban are committing the same horrific abuses they were notorious for during their previous rule of Afghanistan,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary-General.
They repeatedly violate the rights of those they perceive as their adversaries, even killing those who have already surrendered. The Taliban say they are not targeting former employees of the previous government, but these killings contradict such claims.
The Taliban must immediately cease these cruel acts of revenge, and ensure employees of the former government and their families can live safely in Afghanistan. The new government must make clear that such grave violations will not be tolerated, and that those responsible will be prosecuted.
After the killings, the Taliban reportedly informed remaining relatives that anybody who had run away should come back and surrender within three days.
Interviewees told Amnesty International that one senior Taliban official said: “I have killed people for the past 20 years. Killing is easy for me. I can kill again.”
The report comes as the Taliban has tried to appeal to the wider world to become a member of the global community. Last month, the terrorist organization requested to speak to international leaders at the United Nations “and nominated their Doha-based spokesman Suhail Shaheen as Afghanistan’s U.N. ambassador, according to a letter seen by Reuters,” per the outlet.
The killings confirm that the group is still operating as it has in the past by brutally murdering innocent people in order to enforce its brutal regime.
As reported by The Hill, “Hazaras, an ethnic minority in Afghanistan, make up of only 9 percent of the population of the landlocked country. They have long been persecuted by the Taliban as they follow the Shia branch of Islam in the Sunni-majority country.”
The Biden administration’s catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan led to the Taliban takeover of the country and resulted in the deaths of 13 U.S. service members and over a hundred Afghans. It also left behind 100 to 200 Americans in the country.
As The Daily Wire reported, a Qatari evacuation flight with Americans took off from Afghanistan earlier this week, as confirmed to ABC News.
“The State of Qatar is pleased to have worked with a number of parties on the ground as well as its international partners to make this flight possible,” a senior Qatari government official told ABC News in a statement.
“Upon arriving to Qatar, the passengers will be transported to the compound facility currently hosting Afghan civilians and other evacuees,” the official said. “There, they will be able to take a COVID-19 test, rest and remain in Doha until departing to their final destinations.”