Taliban back in town: Hundreds of killings and right violations-UN

• UNAMA report released on Wednesday detailed numerous instances.
• The Taliban have engaged in hundreds of extrajudicial killings and acts of torture.
• UNAMA received 87 reports of violence against women and girls.

The Taliban have engaged in hundreds of extrajudicial killings and acts of torture in Afghanistan since taking control last year, according to a statement released by the UN on Wednesday.

At a news conference in Kabul, Markus Potzel, the acting director of the United Nations mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), stated: “There is no denying that the findings of our report are extremely serious”.

Since toppling the previous Western-backed administration, the Taliban have frequently refuted allegations of rights violations, but a UNAMA report released on Wednesday detailed numerous instances.

Since August, it has recorded 160 claims of extrajudicial executions, 56 instances of torture and other cruel treatment, and more than 170 arbitrary arrests and detentions of former government officials and members of the national security force.

The most popular forms of torture included beatings with cables and pipes, kicking, punching, and slapping, as well as the use of electric shock devices.

More than 200 instances of harsh, inhuman, or degrading treatment were recorded, along with more than 100 instances of excessive force being used, including hitting merchants for not attending mosque.

Since the war’s end, security has significantly increased nationwide, and the number of civilian casualties has significantly decreased.

The Taliban, who are infamous for their horrific reign of terror between 1996 and 2001, have severely limited Afghans’ liberties, especially those of women and girls.

UNAMA received 87 reports of violence against women and girls, including murder, rape, suicide, forced marriages, including child marriage, assault, and abuse. Two cases of honour killing were also reported, however none of these incidents were ever reported to the legal justice system.

A couple who were publicly stoned to death after being accused of having an affair was one of the examples that were recorded.

The head of the UN human rights mission in Afghanistan, Fiona Frazer, stated that “impunity prevails” there and acknowledged that there may be a potential for underreporting of charges.

The Taliban’s religious police and intelligence service’s role in abuses, she claimed, was “particularly concerned” to UNAMA.

According to UNAMA, unexploded mines and attacks primarily linked to the local Islamic State branch have resulted in more than 700 civilian deaths and at least 1,400 injuries.

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