The Taliban’s vicious tactics of targeting civilians for alleged ties to the NRF are causing much misery and fear in Panjir.
Agnès Callamard, International General Secretary of Amnesty International
“The Taliban’s list of war crimes and other violations of international humanitarian law in Panjir is long and includes extrajudicial executions, torture, hostage-taking, illegal detention and the burning of shelters and civilian facilities. Each of these acts is despicable and, taken together, this behavior constitutes a collective punishment that is itself a war crime. Thousands of people are affected by the Taliban’s ongoing crackdown, which is clearly aimed at intimidating and punishing them. Targeted attacks by the Taliban against civilians in Panjir must end immediately.”
As part of this crackdown, the Taliban arbitrarily arrested all adult men and older boys in villages, detained them without charge, and beat and otherwise ill-treated them. They also imposed a nighttime curfew across Afghanistan, confiscated civilian homes, and restricted herdsmen’s access to their ancestral pastures.
Many of these acts committed by the Taliban constitute war crimes in their own right, but taken together, combined with the additional arbitrary arrests and restrictions imposed on the civilian population, they also constitute a war crime of collective punishment.
Mass extrajudicial executions
The report documents several cases of extrajudicial mass executions of NRF fighters by the Taliban. In September 2022, at least six and possibly nine people were killed in a case in the mountains near Darea Hazara, part of Pochava village in Darah district.
Amnesty International’s Crisis Evidence Laboratory analyzed and verified five videos showing parts of the executions. The first video shows Taliban members leading six men with their hands tied behind their backs down a steep slope. Interviewees by Amnesty International identified these six captured NRF fighters as Mohammad-u Din, Ishaq, Daniyar, Modir Ahmad, Amir Hatam and Mohammad Yar. The other three possible victims were later identified by witnesses as Feroz, Torabaz and Shah Faisal.
Illegal detention, torture and other ill-treatment
In at least three cases, civilians detained by the Taliban in Bazarak and Rokha districts in Panjir province were tortured to death. The men were farmers and ranchers who, as usual, wanted to take their animals to the mountains in the summer, in line with ancestral rights. They acted under the belief that they had permission from the local Taliban to enter designated areas.
Videos and photos taken after their bodies were recovered were shared on social media and shared privately with Amnesty International. The three bodies showed clear signs of torture, including severe bruising, likely inflicted by severe beatings, revealed an analysis by a coroner consulted by Amnesty International.
The Taliban also arbitrarily arrested and detained civilian men and older boys repeatedly for their alleged ties to the NRF. Up to 200 people were arrested at one time. Arrests mostly took place between May and August 2022 in Darah, Abshar and Khenj districts, either in village-wide mass arrests at specific locations or targeted arrests at specific residences where the Taliban suspected family members with ties to the NRF.
Arresting family members to force combatants to surrender constitutes hostage-taking and a war crime. The length of detention by the Taliban varied, ranging from hours to months. The arrest of relatives of suspected NRF fighters, the mass arrest and detention of civilians, and the torture and unlawful killing of pastoralists are other examples of collective punishment used by the Taliban in Panjir against civilians.
Other Taliban intimidation tactics documented in the report include the long-term destruction and confiscation of civilian property and restrictions on the movement of civilians.
Those responsible must be held accountable
Before and after August 2021, the people of Afghanistan have faced crimes under international law and other serious violations and abuses of human rights, for which little has been held accountable. The lack of a reliable domestic infrastructure to ensure accountability means that evidence of such crimes can disappear or be destroyed.
Amnesty International again calls on the UN Human Rights Council to establish an independent international accountability mechanism for Afghanistan, with a mandate to monitor and publicly report on the situation and to collect and preserve evidence for further international prosecution. Amnesty International also calls for the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Afghanistan to be adequately resourced and for UN member states and the International Criminal Court to use this evidence to conduct full investigations into all parties to the conflict.
“All victims of the atrocities in Panjir, like all other victims of Taliban crimes in Afghanistan, deserve an end to impunity and a clear path to justice, truth and reparation,” said Agnès Callamard.
The establishment of an independent international accountability mechanism is crucial. The focus should be on collecting and preserving evidence to hold the accused accountable for criminal responsibility.
Agnès Callamard, International General Secretary of Amnesty International
Amnesty International’s Research Methodology
Amnesty International interviewed 29 people from Panjir for this report. In all cases, respondents asked not to publish their names for fear of Taliban retaliation.
Amnesty International carried out an open source search of material available on social media and analyzed 61 photos and videos. Some of them were available online or were made available by witnesses through a secure transmission method. Many of the videos are believed to have been filmed by members of the Taliban.
On 25 May 2023, Amnesty International requested an official Taliban statement on the cases documented in the report. At the time of publication, the Taliban had yet to respond.
Human rights crisis in Afghanistan
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