War Crimes In Afghanistan

War crimes in Afghanistan covers the period of conflict from 1979 to the present. Starting with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, 40 years of civil war in various forms has wracked Afghanistan. War crimes have been committed by all sides.

Since the Taliban's emergence in the 1990s its crimes include extrajudicial killings of civilians during its period running the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, systematic killings of civilians and wartime sexual violence during the 2010s, and executions of civilians during the 2021 Taliban offensive.

Taliban

Extrajudicial killings of civilians

Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (1996–2001)

In its military takeover of Mazar-i-Sharif starting on 8 August 1998, the Taliban shot dead and slit the throats of civilians, mostly Hazaras, and some Tajiks and Uzbeks, from around 10:30 until midday. Executions continued through to 13 or 14 August. The Taliban carried out massacres in May 2000 and January 2001, primarily of Hazaras. In the May 2000 Robotak Pass massacre, 31 people were killed by Taliban forces, among whom 26 were "positively identified as civilians" by Human Rights Watch (HRW). For four days starting on 8 January 2001, Taliban forces shot dead 170 civilians in Yakawlang by firing squad.

Armed opposition (2001–2021)

The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIGRC) called the Taliban's terrorism against the Afghan civilian population a war crime. According to Amnesty International, the Taliban commit war crimes by targeting civilians, including killing teachers, abducting aid workers and burning school buildings. Amnesty International said that 756 civilians were killed in 2006 from Taliban road bombs or suicide bombers.

In 2010, the Taliban systematically killed civilians in Afghanistan, usually based on the claim that the victims supported the Afghan government. A journalist interviewed by Amnesty International said that village elders refusing to cooperate with the Taliban were executed and posthumously accused of being "American spies".

NATO has alleged that the Taliban have used civilians as human shields. As an example, NATO pointed to the victims of NATO air strikes in Farah province in May 2009, during which the Afghan government claims up to 150 civilians were killed. NATO stated it had evidence the Taliban forced civilians into buildings likely to be targeted by NATO aircraft involved in the battle. A spokesman for the ISAF commander said: "This was a deliberate plan by the Taliban to create a civilian casualty crisis. These were not human shields; these were human sacrifices. We have intelligence that points to this." According to the US State Department, the Taliban committed human rights violations against women in Afghanistan.

In 2011, ''The New York Times'' reported that the Taliban was responsible for of all civilian deaths in the war in Afghanistan. United Nations reports have consistently blamed the Taliban and other anti-government forces for the majority of civilian deaths in the conflict. In 2013 the UN stated that the Taliban had been placing bombs along transit routes.

In 2015, Amnesty International reported that the Taliban committed mass murder and gang rape of Afghan civilians in Kunduz. Taliban fighters killed and raped female relatives of police commanders and soldiers as well as midwives. One female human rights activist described the situation in the following manner:

"When the Taliban asserted their control over Kunduz, they claimed to be bringing law and order and Shari'a to the city. But everything they've done has violated both. I don't know who can rescue us from this situation."

In 2015 in Kunduz, Taliban death squads used a hit list of civilians – "activists, journalists and civil servants", carried out house-to-house searches and killed them. Taliban forces entered the house of a wounded woman and shot her fatally in the head.

2021 Taliban offensive

During the first half of 2021, Taliban forces were responsible for killing 699 civilians according to United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) or 917 according to the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC). The Taliban were responsible for "the vast majority" of the destruction and looting of private homes and civilian infrastructure during May and June, according to UNAMA. The US and other countries started to pull out remaining troops in early 2021.

On 12 May 2021, Sohail Pardis, who had worked for 16 months as a translator for United States armed forces in Afghanistan, was beheaded by the Taliban after being taken outside of his car.

On 16 June, in Dawlat Abad, 22 unarmed Afghan Special Forces commandos were executed while attempting to surrender to Taliban forces. A video of the event circulated widely and was broadcast by CNN. Samira Hamidi of Amnesty International described the event as "the cold-blooded murder of surrendering soldiers – a war crime". She called for the event to be investigated as part of the International Criminal Court investigation in Afghanistan.

In July 2021 in Kandahar, Taliban forces extrajudicially executed critics and people thought to have been members of province-level governments and their relatives. Patricia Gossman of HRW stated that the "Taliban commanders with oversight over such atrocities are also responsible for war crimes". She described the executions as "demonstrat ngthe willingness of Taliban commanders to violently crush even the tamest criticism or objection". Estimates of the number of civilians arbitrarily detained in the Taliban mid-July takeover of Spin Boldak range from 380 to 900, with the number arbitrarily executed ranging from 40 to 100.

In early July 2021 in Malestan District, Taliban forces killed civilians, looted private properties, set them on fire, and destroyed and looted shops. During 4–6 July 2021 in Mundarakht in Malestan District, the Taliban extrajudicially executed nine Hazaras. Hazaras have previously been persecuted by the Taliban. Three were tortured by Taliban security forces prior to their executions: Wahed Qaraman's legs and arms were broken, his hair was pulled out and he was beaten in the face; Jaffar Rahimi was severely beaten and strangled to death with his scarf; Sayed Abdul Hakim was beaten, had his arms tied and his legs shot before he was shot in the chest. Three were executed at a Taliban checkpoint and the other three were executed in Mundarakht.

On 15 July 2021, photojournalist Danish Siddiqui was killed in Spin Boldak, either in crossfire between Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and the Taliban or by execution after being captured by the Taliban. His body was mutilated, leaving his face unrecognisable and tyre marks on his face and chest.

On 22 July 2021, a popular comedian, Nazar Mohammad, known as "Khasha Zwan", was executed by the Taliban in Kandahar Province.

In late July, four security force personnel and a hospital worker from Shakardara District were tortured by Taliban forces and executed. The cousin of one of the victims, Abdul Rahman, stated that the Taliban removed his cousin's eyes and tongue and ran a car over him before shooting him. A commander in the Afghan forces, Abdul Hamid, was executed by the Taliban near Herat after being taken prisoner.

On 6 August 2021, Taliban forces claimed responsibility for the 5 August assassination of Dawa Khan Menapal, head of the governmental media and information centre, in Kabul. On the same day, during which the Taliban took control of Zaranj, human rights activist Laal Gul Laal stated that the execution of 30 soldiers by the Taliban was a war crime. According to TOLOnews, some of the soldiers were tortured and had their eyes removed by the Taliban before they were killed. The Taliban stated that the soldiers had been killed in combat.

On 21 August 2021, a video showing Haji Mullah Achakzai, the ex-police chief of Badghis province, was shown blindfolded and restrained before he was shot to death by Taliban fighters at close range. It was reported on 30 August 2021 that Ghulam Sakhi Akbari, ex-police chief of Farha province, was killed at the Kabul-Kandahar highway.

On 2 September 2021, folk singer Fawad Andarab was executed by Taliban fighters after being taken from his house in Andarab Valley.

On 5 September 2021, Arabic-speaking Taliban fighters were singled out as the culprits for murdering a pregnant ex-police officer named Banu Negar in Firozkoh. According to Negar's family, she was eight months pregnant when three Taliban gunmen arrived at her family's house and tied up all of its occupants, before beating and shooting Negar dead in front of her husband and children.

According to a Human Rights Watch's report released in November 2021, the Taliban killed or forcibly disappeared more than 100 former members of the Afghan security forces in the three months since the takeover in just the four provinces of Ghazni, Helmand, Kandahar, and Kunduz. According to the report, the Taliban identified targets for arrest and execution through intelligence operations and access to employment records that were left behind. Former members of the security forces were also killed by the Taliban within days of registering with them to receive a letter guaranteeing their safety.

Panjshir conflict

During the Panjshir conflict, the Taliban were accused of extrajudicial executions and blocking food supplies. A tribal elder said eight civilians were executed by them on 7 September. Amrullah Saleh's son Shuresh stated that his father's brother Rohullah Azizi, who had been executed alongside his driver on 9 September by the Taliban, after being stopped at a checkpoint. An investigative report published by the BBC
...