Despite a “general amnesty” for former adversaries, the UN mission in Afghanistan reported on Tuesday that more than 200 former members of Afghanistan’s military, law enforcement, and government have died since the Taliban gained power.
In a report, the UN mission claimed that from the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in the middle of 2021 through June, it had documented at least 218 extrajudicial deaths with links to the present regime in Kabul.
“In most instances, individuals were detained by de facto security forces, often briefly, before being killed,” the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) told the media.
Senior Taliban figures have claimed that their supreme leader has ordered an amnesty for former military personnel and government employees.
In response to UNAMA, the foreign affairs ministry run by the Taliban stated that it had not been made aware of any instances of order non-compliance and that any such instances would be looked into.
Volker Turk, the head of the UN human rights office, said the deaths were a “betrayal of the people’s trust” because the victims had been promised they wouldn’t be singled out. Speaking on behalf of the UN rights office, Jeremy Laurence, said the number of murders was “shocking” and that more were likely to have been committed.
UNAMA said about half of the killings it recorded occurred in the four months after the Taliban took over, as U.S.-backed foreign forces were withdrawing, in August 2021, and 70 were recorded in 2022.
“For the majority of violations discussed in this report, there is limited information regarding measures taken by the de facto authorities to investigate incidents and hold perpetrators to account,” UNAMA said, referring to the Taliban administration.
“The apparent impunity with which members of the de facto authorities continue to commit human rights violations against former government officials and ANDSF members is of serious concern,” UNAMA said, referring to the old Afghan National Defence and Security Forces.
Around 800 instances of Taliban-related human rights abuses against former government employees and members of the military were all documented by UNAMA, including arbitrary detentions, disappearances, and torture.
According to the mission, the majority of people were against former members of the police and security agencies.
The amnesty order and another order banning torturing or mistreating people in jail were both issued, according to the Taliban-led foreign affairs ministry.
It denied targeting individuals who participated in or served for the old government’s foreign-backed military or engaged in extrajudicial killings.
“No military staff of the previous administration has been arrested, detained or tortured because of his activities in the security institutions,” it said in a statement that the U.N. issued with its report.
“Those employees of the previous administration who joined the opposition groups of the Islamic Emirate (the Taliban administration) or had military activities to the detriment of the system, have been arrested and introduced to judicial authorities.”
