By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi
September 16, 2022
Amnesty International says its initial investigation validates the authenticity of videos shared on social media depicting what appears to be extrajudicial executions carried out by the Taliban of members of a resistance group operating mainly out of the Panjshir Valley.
The United Nations has already voiced “grave concern” about the videos, which show two groups of men from the National Resistance Front (NRF) squatting on a hillside with their hands tied behind their backs before being shot with automatic rifles by Taliban fighters.
“Amnesty International conducted an initial assessment and can confirm that these are new videos of extrajudicial executions, carried out by the Taliban, of apparent members of the National Resistance Front (NRF) in Panjshir,” the London-based rights watchdog said in a tweet on September 15.
A Taliban spokesman has said authorities were investigating the matter.
Early this week, the Taliban said it had killed at least 40 NRF fighters in the Panjshir Valley.
The UN special rapporteur for Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, in a statement on Twitter voiced deep concern “about latest allegations of extrajudicial summary executions in Panjshir” and called for an “immediate thorough investigation and for perpetrators to be held accountable. I am closely monitoring the situation.”
Sibghatullah Ahmadi, a spokesman for the NRF, called the killings “war crimes” and urged the UN mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) to “fulfil its obligations of not only being ‘concerned’ but also gaining the courage to name the Taliban, condemn their crimes and call on the UN security council to take immediate action.”
UNAMA has accused the Taliban of committing hundreds of human rights violations since the militants seized power in August 2021 as international forces left the country.
With reporting by AFP