Local sources in Panjshir province said that the Taliban killed a 16-year-old girl in Dare Abdullah Khel district on Monday. Sources said that this girl has been shot dead by Taliban members when she was fetching water from a spring.
The Taliban has not yet commented on the issue.
Some sources said that there were clashes reported in the area and a stray bullet hit the girl and she was killed.
This comes even as the Taliban has been accused of killing civilians in Panjshir province.
On Monday, the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan claimed that operations had been launched against the Taliban across Panjshir province. They claimed that many Taliban members have been killed and 40 members of the group have been arrested.
Amnesty International in a new briefing said that the Taliban have mounted a sustained attack on human rights ever since seizing control of Afghanistan a year ago.
The briefing, The Rule of Taliban: A Year of Violence, Impunity and False Promises, documents gross human rights violations under a year of Taliban rule. The human rights organisation stated that the Taliban has been persecuting minority groups, violently clamping down on peaceful protests, suppressing women’s rights and using extrajudicial executions and disappearances to spread fear among Afghans.
The briefing also highlights the broken promises made by the Taliban who had initially promised to uphold women’s rights and even provide amnesty to former government officials. However, the rights group stated that the Taliban has been torturing civilians, undertaking revenge killings and forced evictions of opponents of the group.
“A year ago, the Taliban made public commitments to protect and promote human rights. Yet the speed with which they are dismantling 20 years of human rights gains is staggering. Any hopes of change have quickly evaporated as the Taliban seek to govern through violent repression with full impunity,” said Yamini Mishra, Amnesty International’s South Asia Regional Director.
Mishra added that arbitrary detentions, torture, disappearances, summary executions are daily routine and women and girls, without rights, are facing a bleak future, deprived of education. The briefing elucidated that the Taliban have subjected women to increasing violence since they took power. Sometimes as a way of punishing their family members. Dozens of women have been arrested and tortured for holding peaceful protests demanding their rights, amid mounting restrictions that have stripped away their freedoms, it stated.
Amnesty International called on the Taliban to immediately stop committing gross human rights violations and crimes under international law. It also asked the group to urgently restore, protect and promote the rights of Afghan people.
Nearly 19 million people in Afghanistan face severe food insecurity and six million people are on the brink of famine, the World Food Programme (WFP) announced on Tuesday.
According to WFP, the price hike has caused the hunger situation to escalate and $960 million in aid is needed for the rest of 2022.
WFP warned of worsening humanitarian situation in Afghanistan a day after the US announced on Monday that it has ceased talks on the release of Afghanistan’s frozen assets.
The US’ latest stance is due to the Taliban’s failure to guarantee that Afghanistan will not be a safe haven for terrorists.
At least 25 Taliban members have been killed and 18 others were wounded while 40 of them have been captured in an operation in Panjshir province, announced the National Resistance Front (NRF).
Sibghatullah Ahmadi, the NRF spokesperson, said that the operation has been launched on Monday across the province.
According to Ahmadi, NRF forces captured the Taliban fighters in Dare Arezo of Annaba district of Panjshir province.
Ahmadi posted pictures of captured Taliban fighters on social media and wrote that three Taliban captives were treated too.
National Resistance Front operations have kicked off in Panjshir coinciding with the anniversary of the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban.
NRF confirmed that last night they had attacked Taliban positions in Kapisa and Parwan provinces too.
The Taliban has not commented on the NRF statement yet.
At least four people have been injured in an explosion in district three of Kabul on Monday, local sources said. The explosion took place in front of the main gate of Bayat Media Center on Darul Aman road.
According to the sources, three security guards of Ariana Television Network were among the injured. It was reported to be an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) explosion, which had targeted a vehicle.
One of the wounded is a member of the Taliban, who was assigned as a guard at the entrance of the Bayat Media Center.
Some sources added that four occupants of the vehicle were injured.
Taliban haven’t commented on the explosion so far.
More than 1,500 civilians have been killed in Afghanistan since August 15, 2021, as per Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC). According to AIHRC, the Taliban have systemically violated human rights in Afghanistan.
In its annual report, the AIHRC stressed that in the past year under the Taliban, 17 major targeted suicide and complex attacks have taken place at holy shrines, educational centers, transportation systems, and sports stadiums across Afghanistan as a result of which 540 people had been killed and 519 others had been injured.
The Islamic State-Khurasan (IS-K) group has been identified as the main perpetrator of these attacks. According to AIHRC, the Taliban have failed to prevent large-scale and targeted suicide attacks by the IS-K.
In the report, AIHRC stated that targeted killings, clashes, cold-blooded killings of prisoners of war and kangaroo courts caused the most civilian casualties, because of which 980 civilians had been killed and 587 civilians had been injured. The victims included 98 women and 56 children.
The findings of AIHRC confirm that the human rights situation in Afghanistan is alarming and that the Taliban has systematically violated the human rights of Afghan citizens.
AIHRC confirmed that women, media personnel and former government employees have been affected the most and their human rights have been highly impacted under the Taliban.
The human rights commission stressed that there is enough evidence that Islamic State-Khorasan and the Taliban continue to systematically engage in inhumane behaviour despite international pressures.
According to AIHRC, in the past year, the Taliban have not been able to form the most basic standards of legitimate governance and rule of law.
The findings of the commission indicate that the Taliban removed 3,500 prosecutors from their duties and replaced them with non-professional religious seminary students.
The Human Rights Commission said that since August of last year, women have been experiencing the worst living conditions and that the Taliban’s gender apartheid rule is in clear conflict with the demand for women's political participation.
The AIHRC urged the international community not to recognize the government of the Taliban until the group conforms to the will of Afghan citizens and guarantees their human rights.
