Geneva: The United Nations said there was a “credible accusation” of more than 100 extra murders in Afghanistan since the Taliban took power in August, with the most blamed for the new rulers of the country.
Deputy Deputy UN Nada Al-Nashif said he was very worried by continuing such a report on the murder, even though the amnesty was publicly announced by the Taliban after their 15 August takeover.
“Between August and November, we received credible charges of more than 100 killings of former Afghan national security forces and others related to former government,” he told the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday.
“At least 72 of these murders,” he said, “associated with the Taliban”.
“In some cases, the bodies are shown publicly.
This has worsened fear between the categories of this large population,” he said.
Taliban Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Qahar Balki said the government was “fully committed” with the amnesty decree, and denied employees from the previous government being persecuted.
Anyone “was found to violate the amnesty’s decision to be prosecuted and punished”, he said.
“Incidents will be investigated thoroughly but unfounded rumors should not be taken at a nominal value.” Al-Nashif, who presented Tuesday’s update to the Board on behalf of the Head of UN Rights Michelle Bachelet, said many members of the Islamic-Khorasan Jihadis group – the main Taliban enemy – had also been killed.
“In the province of Nangarhar, there is …
it seems to be a pattern of at least 50 extraordinary murders of individuals who are suspected of being members of the ISIL-KP,” he said, with reports “brutal methods …
including hanging, beheading, and public appearance of the corpse”.
In a report released on Wednesday, Amnesty International also said Taliban members had tortured and killed ethnic and religious minorities, former Afghan soldiers and alleged government sympathizers when they took control of Afghanistan in July and August.
“Our new evidence shows that, far from the transition of a smooth power that the Taliban claimed, the Afghans were once again paid with their lives,” said Secretary General Amnesty Agnes Callamard.
“Houses, hospitals, schools and shops are converted into crime scenes because people are repeatedly killed and injured.
Afghans have suffered too long, and the victims must have access to justice and receive reparations.” Amnesty said the full scale of murders remained unknown.
The United Nations and Amnesty comments came after the United States and other countries condemned the Taliban following the Human Rights Watch report earlier this month documenting 47 summary executions.
The murder was a former member of the Afghan National Security Force, another military personnel, intelligence agents “who had surrendered to or were arrested by Taliban forces” starting mid-August to October, he said.
Taliban spokesman Qari Sayed Khosti firmly rejected HRW reports and other claims about extrawudicial murders as “not based on evidence”.
In his renewal, Tuesday, Al-Nashif described a deep humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, said many people were “encouraged to take desperate steps” to survive, including child labor and even reported “children’s sales”.
The United Nations said more than 23 million Afghans – more than half a population – will face lack of “acute” food in the months of winter, forcing millions to choose between migration and hunger.
The UN World Food Program said Tuesday that the latest survey estimated 98 percent of Afghans did not consume enough food – up 17 percentage points since August.
“Afghanistan faces hunger avalanches and runs out of people like I have never seen,” said WFP state director for Afghanistan Mary-Ellen McGroarty in a statement.
This crisis is caused by a combined effect of drought caused by global warming, and the economic destruction is exacerbated by the decision of the international community to freeze funds to the country that depend on the relief of the Taliban.
Al-Nashif warns that “difficult policy choices committed by these member countries at these critical points, to prevent economic collapse, literally live and die.” He voiced special concern for severe restrictions placed in women and girls since the Taliban took over, even though they promised a softer rule compared to their first task in the 1990s.