The Islamist terror militia Taliban have drawn up a “kill list” to hunt down known homosexuals in Afghanistan, an NGO working inside the country says. “We now know for sure the Taliban has a ‘kill list’ circulating, identifying LBTQI+ persons,” the head of the Canada-based gay rights NGO, Rainbow Railroad, told the French public broadcaster France24.
As the Taliban imposes Islamic law in Afghanistan, vulnerable groups such as women, gays, and religious minorities are in the crosshairs of its Sharia enforcers. “In many cases, the Taliban are actively searching for these individuals: their time is running out,” the NGO said in a statement issued this week.
President Joe Biden’s administration, which flew the gay pride flag over the U.S. Embassy in Kabul earlier this year, ordered a hasty withdrawal of American troops in August, thus paving the way for the Taliban’s Sharia rule over Afghanistan.
The news network France24 reported the persecution faced by the gay community under the Taliban regime:
Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan at the end of August the persecution of the country’s LGBT+ community has ramped up, forcing many to live in hiding, fearing for their lives. “We now know for sure the Taliban has a ‘kill list’,” said the head of the Rainbow Railroad, a Canadian NGO helping under-threat Afghans to flee into exile. (…)“This is a really scary time to be in Afghanistan,” Executive Director Kimahli Powell of Rainbow Railroad, the only international LGBT+ organisation on the ground in Afghanistan, told FRANCE 24 in a telephone interview.“We now know for sure the Taliban has a ‘kill list’ circulating, identifying LBTQI+ persons.”According to Powell, the Taliban most likely profited from the power vacuum that took place in the days and weeks leading up to the US withdrawal deadline to draw up these “kill lists” by paying close attention to the names of people that foreign rights groups were trying to evacuate.“After the fall of Kabul, there was a lot of information sharing,” he said, noting that the people who never made it aboard any of the departing flights were instead left vulnerable, with their identities exposed. Powell also said the Taliban seem to have complemented these lists through active persecution, by means of “entrapment” and data leaks.“[Some] individuals who have reached out to us have told us about how they’ve received a mystery email from someone claiming to be connected with Rainbow Railroad asking for their information and passport. That’s how we know the information has been leaked.”
Western governments hope to save Afghanistan’s beleaguered gay community by flying its members out of the country. On Saturday, Britain granted asylum to the first such batch. “[T]he first group of 29 LGBT+ Afghans have arrived in Britain to start their new lives and it is hoped they will be the first of many,” the UK TV channel Sky News reported over the weekend. “Under Taliban rule, LGBT+ people in Afghanistan are among the most vulnerable, with many facing increased levels of persecution, discrimination and assault,” the broadcaster explained.
Meanwhile, the Taliban are expanding their web of terror across the country. The Taliban death squads are rounding up former regime officials in Kabul and other Afghan cities. Besides targeting people connected to the deposed government, news reports confirm that the Taliban are murdering their family members — including minors.
The return of the Taliban also brings back Sharia-mandated amputations, public stoning, and beheadings back to Afghanistan. “No one will tell us what our laws should be. We will follow Islam and we will make our laws on the Quran,” Taliban co-founder Mullah Nooruddin Turabi declared following the Islamist takeover.
CBSN: “Kill lists being circulated” targeting gays in Afghanistan
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