Taliban Going House To House To Execute Those Who Helped US Forces, Says Report
The Taliban are going house-to-house searching for opponents and their families, according to an intelligence document for the UN that deepened fears as Afghanistan's new rulers were reneging on pledges of tolerance.
After routing government forces and taking over Kabul on Sunday to end two decades of war, the hardline Islamist movement's leaders have repeatedly vowed a complete amnesty as part of a well-crafted PR blitz.
Those who worked with US, Nato forces targetted
Tens of thousands of Americans and Afghans who collaborated with US forces remain stranded in Kabul, as the US government grappled with an overwhelming backlog of visas and Taliban checkpoints which were preventing people safely reaching the airport.
With the 31 August deadline looming, tens of thousands of people eligible for evacuation were yet to be airlifted out, many who were among the crowds gathered around Kabul airport brandishing their papers or proof they had worked on US bases.
The urgency of the evacuation of those allied with US and Nato forces, and western media organisations, was further compounded by growing reports of Taliban fighters going door-to-door looking for those who had worked with the previous regime, and threatening them into joining the Taliban.
A German broadcaster said a family member of one of its reporters had been shot and killed by the Taliban when they came looking for the journalist, who had already fled the country.
Manhunt despite 'promises'
This manhunt was despite the Taliban promising just days ago that they would seek ¡°no revenge¡± and that ¡°nobody will go to their doors to ask why they helped¡±.
Women have also been assured their rights will be respected, and that the Taliban will be "positively different" from their brutal 1996-2001 rule.But with thousands of people still trying to flee the capital aboard evacuation flights, the report for the United Nations confirmed the fears of many.
The report, written by the Norwegian Center for Global Analyses, said militants were also screening people on the way to Kabul airport."They are targeting the families of those who refuse to give themselves up, and prosecuting and punishing their families 'according to Sharia law'," Christian Nellemann, the group's executive director, told AFP.
12 killed since Sunday
"We expect both individuals previously working with NATO/US forces and their allies, alongside with their family members to be exposed to torture and executions."
So far, a total of 12 people have been killed in and around the airport in the Afghan capital, Kabul, Taliban and NATO officials said, since the Taliban seized the city on Sunday, triggering a rush of fearful people trying to leave.
