ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) – The Taliban captured, tied up and shot dead 27 men in Afghanistan’s Panjshir Valley last month during an offensive against resistance fighters in the region, according to a report released on Tuesday, which refutes the group’s earlier claims that the men were killed in battle.
Video of the killings, corroborated by the report, shows five men blindfolded and their hands tied behind their backs. Then Taliban fighters shoot at them for 20 seconds and cheer.
The investigation by Afghan Witness, an open-source project by the UK-based non-profit Center for Information Resilience, is a rare corroboration of claims that the Taliban used brutal methods against opposition forces and their supporters, its researchers said. Since taking power in August 2021, the Taliban have enforced stricter and stricter rule, even as they push for international recognition of their government.
Afghan Witness team leader David Osborn said the report gave the “clearest example” of the Taliban conducting an “orchestrated purge” of resistance fighters.
Afghan Witness said it analyzed dozens of visual social media sources – mostly videos and photos – to conclusively link a group of Taliban fighters to the killing of 10 men in Panjshir’s Dara district, including the five who were mowed down in the video.
It also confirmed 17 other extrajudicial killings from additional images posted on social media, all showing dead men with their hands tied behind their backs. Videos and photos of Taliban fighters with the bodies assisted geolocation and chronolocation and also provide close-up views of the fighters at the scene. These were matched to other videos suspected of showing the group.
“Using open-source techniques, we established the facts surrounding the summary and systematic execution of a group of men in the Panjshir Valley in mid-September,” Osborn said. “At the time of their execution, the detainees were tied up and posed no threat to their kidnappers by the Taliban.”
Enayatullah Khawarazmi, the Taliban-appointed spokesman for the defense minister, said a delegation was investigating the videos posted on social media. He said he could not give any further details because of the ongoing investigation.
Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesman for the Taliban-led government, was not immediately available for comment.
Last month Mujahid reportedly said the Taliban had killed 40 resistance fighters and captured more than 100 in Panjshir. He gave no details of how the 40 men died.
The force fighting in the mountainous Panjshir Valley north of Kabul – a remote region that has resisted conquerors before – rose from the last remnants of Afghanistan’s shattered security forces. It has vowed to oppose the Taliban after they overran the country and seized power in August 2021.
Ali Maisam Nazary, head of external relations for the Afghanistan National Resistance Front, said: “The Taliban committed war crimes by killing POWs who surrendered to them at close range and the videos are a testament to that.”
The Afghan witness said he had credible evidence of another 30 deaths from last month’s Taliban offensive against suspected resistance fighters in Panjshir.