Taliban executed scores of ANSF personnel after surrender: HRW

ISLAMABAD: The Taliban executed dozens of members of the Afghan security forces after they surrendered following the militants' seizure of Afghanistan in late summer, new research released by Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Tuesday alleges.

The HRW report detailed "the summary execution or enforced disappearance" of 47 former members of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), including military personnel, police, intelligence service members and paramilitary militia, who had surrendered to or were apprehended by Taliban forces between August 15 and October 31. HRW says the report is based on a total of 67 interviews, including 40 in-person interviews with witnesses, relatives and friends of victims, and Taliban fighters. Some people were granted anonymity by HRW for their report. In some cases, families report stories of people who simply disappeared, reported foreign media.

A Taliban deputy spokesman rejected the HRW report, saying that the Taliban established a general amnesty on their first day of power in Afghanistan. “Based on that all military and non-military personnel of the former government were forgiven and told they could live normally in Afghanistan, that no one could harm them,” Bilal Karimi said.

HRW’s research indicates that Taliban forces have killed or forcibly disappeared more than 100 former security forces members in just these four provinces in the three months since their takeover of the capital Kabul, on August 15. HRW researchers add, “They have also targeted family members of former security force members.”