Taliban Deny Involvement In Murder, Disappearance Of 100 Ex-Law Enforcement Officers

The Taliban (under UN sanctions for terrorism) have denied the accusations made in the latest Human Rights Watch (HRW) report of involvement in the deaths and forced disappearances of over 100 former Afghan officials, Bilal Karimi, a Cultural Commission member, told Sputnik on Tuesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 30th November, 2021) The Taliban (under UN sanctions for terrorism) have denied the accusations made in the latest Human Rights Watch (HRW) report of involvement in the deaths and forced disappearances of over 100 former Afghan officials, Bilal Karimi, a Cultural Commission member, told Sputnik on Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, the human rights watchdog published a report on the revenge killings in Afghanistan following the collapse of the US-backed Afghan government in August. According to the HRW findings, the Taliban have executed or forcibly disappeared more than 100 former police and intelligence officers in just four provinces over the past few months despite a proclaimed amnesty.

"I strongly reject this report. No one has been killed by the Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate in the name of being a soldier in the previous administration, or working in any other field. They have not been harmed," Karimi said.

The Taliban forces are not allowed to harm former officials, and if such incidents occur, they are caused by personal enmity and are not sanctioned by the authorities, he noted. "Some of those involved have been arrested and handed over to the prosecutor's office," the Taliban representative said.

Some of those arrested were also involved in drugs and arms smuggling and prosecuted on those grounds, Karimi said.

"We do not confirm any reports by Human Rights Watch that hundreds of people have been killed, as these are huge figures and the incidents that have taken place are due to personal enmity," he stressed.

The HRW, in turn, said that the Taliban had habitually denied their involvement in revenge killings and consistently failed to prosecute those responsible.

"The Taliban leadership's promised amnesty has not stopped local commanders from summarily executing or disappearing former Afghan security force members. The burden is on the Taliban to prevent further killings, hold those responsible to account, and compensate the victims' families," Patricia Gossman, associate Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.

To identify the cases, the human rights watchdog interviewed 40 people in-person in the four provinces and another 27 by phone, among whom were witnesses, relatives and friends of victims, former government officials, journalists, healthcare workers, and Taliban members.

In mid-2021, the Taliban led a major offensive in Afghanistan during the withdrawal of US troops from the country, and took over in August. In the beginning of September, the Taliban established an interim government headed by Mohammad Hassan Akhund.