As the Taliban consolidates its hold on power, reports of executions and mass killings are coming in from all across Afghanistan. The Islamist militia beheaded two boys aged 9 and 10, the media reports on Wednesday said.
Taliban fighters are hunting down former Afghan government officials and security personnel. Besides targeting people connected to the deposed government, the Taliban death squads are murdering their family members — including minors, Jean Marie Thrower, a former U.S. Army officer working on getting stranded Americans out of Afghanistan, told the National Review.
The National Review reported the gruesome beheadings, citing Afghan Rescue Crew‘s (ARC) Jean Marie Thrower:
Even retired members of the Afghan army are marked for death by the Taliban. “We’ve got people who retired, ten, 15 years ago. They killed the Taliban, and the Taliban don’t forget,” Thrower says. “We have one guy who was just working on cars. He said, ‘I haven’t done this, I haven’t been in the resistance for 15 years, but they have my name and they’re calling me.’”Thrower disputes the U.S. State Department’s characterization of about 100 Americans being left on the ground; she said that as of a few days ago, the figure her group had was closer to 1,000 — although she noted that every group making a rescue effort has its own list, potentially leading to overlap with one another in certain cases. The 1,000 figure may include U.S. green-card holders, too, which the State Department is putting in a separate category. (…)She describes the case of an American child whose Afghan uncle was recently killed by the Taliban. “We have had people shot, beheaded. They’re taking the kids. If you’re on the run, and they find your family, they’ll hurt your family and put the word out in the neighborhood that ‘we’ve got your brother or son or daughter.’ They cut off the heads of two boys that were nine and ten.”
The United Nations have confirmed the large-scale ‘revenge’ killings by the Taliban. “My office has received credible allegations of reprisal killings of a number of former ANSF (Afghan National Security Forces) personnel, and reports of officials, who worked for previous administrations and their family members being arbitrarily detained,” UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said on Monday.
The BBC and other media outlets have also confirmed mass killings of unarmed civilians as Taliban fighters lay siege to the last remaining pockets of resistance in the north. “The BBC has found that at least 20 civilians have been killed in Afghanistan’s Panjshir Valley, which has seen fighting between the Taliban and opposition forces. Communications have been cut in the valley, making reporting difficult, but the BBC has evidence of Taliban killings despite promises of restraint,” the broadcaster reported on Tuesday.
There are other disturbing reports of beheadings by the Taliban as well. Earlier this week, a video obtained by the Washington Examiner showed Taliban fighters beheading an Afghan soldier while chanting Allahu Akbar and praising their Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada.
As the Taliban establishes Islamic law across Afghanistan, beheadings are to become the Sharia-sanctioned punishment for non-believers, apostates, and those regarded as the enemies of Islam.
BBC News: ‘Taliban kill civilians in Panjshir Valley, Afghanistan’
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