UN report condemns Afghanistan killings

When the Taliban took over last year, it promised that there would be no retribution against former government officials. But the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan has condemned 160 extrajudicial killings and 178 arrests of former military and government workers. The mission also condemned the new government’s treatment of women and girls—whom they’ve forced out of public life and deprived of a full public education. The UN counted 700 total deaths and 1,400 wounded people in Afghanistan since the Taliban took control in August 2021, but linked most of those casualties to attacks by the Islamic State affiliate in the country—a bitter rival of the Taliban.

Are any changes coming? The Taliban denies the UN report’s findings, calling them “baseless and propaganda” and “not true.” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid also added that extrajudicial killings and arbitrary arrests are against the law and would be punished if found out. The UN said that to address the human rights situation, the country needs to hold perpetrators of these crimes accountable.

Dig deeper: Read Sophia Lee’s report in WORLD Magazine about families extending open arms to Afghan refugees.