In an investigative report published on Thursday, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) has revealed that since the Taliban seized power in August last year, the group has executed more than 100 men whose bodies have been found dumped in canals and other locations in Nangarhar and Kunar provinces of Afghanistan.
According to HRW, Taliban fighters have summarily executed and forcibly disappeared alleged members and supporters of the Islamic State of Khurasan Province (ISKP) in eastern Afghanistan.
“Taliban forces have carried out abusive search operations, including night raids, against residents they accuse of sheltering or supporting members of the Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP) armed group, the Afghan affiliate of the Islamic State (ISIS). During these raids, Taliban forces have beaten residents and have detained men they accuse of being ISKP members without legal process or revealing their whereabouts to their families. An unknown number have been summarily executed – shot, hanged, or beheaded – or forcibly disappeared,” HRW added.
“We investigated an emptied canal in Nangarhar in which over 100 bodies have been dumped between August 2021 and April 2022,” said Patricia Gossman, associate Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Taliban authorities appear to have given their forces free rein to detain, ‘disappear,’ and kill alleged militants.”
Human Rights Watch also reveals the killings of the former government security forces and said: “Human Rights Watch has previously documented Taliban forces summarily executing or forcibly disappearing former Afghan government officials and security forces. The cases from eastern Afghanistan demonstrate that Taliban forces have extended such atrocities to those they accuse of links to ISKP.”