Not long after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, reports have begun surfacing that the organization has been going door-to-door to kill wanted individuals.
As NBC News writes, a new intelligence report submitted to the United Nations claims the Taliban is actively hunting for people who worked with the U.S. forces in the region or anyone involved with the prior Afghanistan government. Additionally, the Taliban have allegedly started screening names at checkpoints in Kabul.
The report was put together by a Norwegian intelligence group and sent to numerous news outlets, contradicting the Taliban’s claims that it didn’t hold “grudges” and would not engage in targeted killings. "I would like to assure the international community, including the U.S., that nobody will be harmed in Afghanistan," said Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid earlier this week. "You will not be harmed from our soil."
"Taliban are intensifying the hunt-down of all individuals and collaborators with the former regime, and if unsuccessful, target and arrest the families and punish them according to their own interpretation of Sharia law," the report sent to the UN reads. "Particularly at risk are individuals in central positions in military, police and investigative units."
The Associated Press reports that the Taliban have claimed it is more moderate since ruling Afghanistan in the ’90s, but an Amnesty International report contradicts these claims.
Eyewitnesses in the Ghazni province of the country said the Taliban targeted minorities in the village of Mundarakht on July 4-6. At least six men were said to have been shot, and three others were tortured to death. The killings acted as “a reminder of the Taliban’s past record, and a horrifying indicator of what Taliban rule may bring,” said Amnesty International head Agnes Callamard.
CNN reports via German publication Deutsche Welle that journalists are also being targeted despite claims it would lead a more “inclusive” regime this time around. One such Deutsche Welle journalist was shot dead by the Taliban on Wednesday, the publication said.
"The killing of a close relative of one of our editors by the Taliban yesterday is inconceivably tragic, and testifies to the acute danger in which all our employees and their families in Afghanistan find themselves," a statement from the publication's director general Peter Limbourg reads. "It is evident that the Taliban are already carrying out organized searches for journalists, both in Kabul and in the provinces. We are running out of time!"
For more on the ongoing situation in Afghanistan, head here for our primer.
