RASC News Agency: Five years after one of the most disturbing incidents of Afghanistan’s former Islamic Republic, the case surrounding the extrajudicial killing of Nasir Abdulrahman, founder and owner of Maiwand Media, along with several of his neighbors in Kabul’s Deh Yahya village, remains without judicial accountability. The collapse of the Republic and the flight of those allegedly responsible did not close the case it merely shifted the pursuit of justice from domestic institutions to the international legal arena.
The operation, carried out during the night of 26 June 2021 by Unit 01 of the former National Directorate of Security (NDS), exemplifies what the U.S. Department of State’s 2021 Country Report on Human Rights Practices documented as a pattern of extrajudicial killings committed by Afghanistan’s government security forces during the administration of former President Ashraf Ghani. According to the account, NDS personnel entered residential homes without presenting arrest warrants, without informing the victims of any charges, and without encountering armed resistance. Nasir Abdulrahman, his son, and three of their neighbors were fatally shot during the raid.
The National Directorate of Security, operating under the authority of then-President Ashraf Ghani, who as Commander-in-Chief exercised ultimate responsibility over NDS operations, acknowledged both the raid and what it described as an “intelligence failure” in an official statement issued the same day. The agency pledged to establish an investigative commission, but no meaningful inquiry was ever conducted.
Only weeks later, on 15 August 2021, Ghani fled Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover. Amrullah Saleh, First Vice President and one of the Republic’s most influential security officials, also left the country. Ahmad Zia Saraj, then Director-General of the NDS, whose agency planned and executed the operation, likewise departed Afghanistan. With the collapse of the government, the Deh Yahya case disappeared into the archives of the former Republic without accountability.
The incident was not an isolated event. Before Kabul fell, Human Rights Watch had repeatedly warned that Afghanistan’s judicial system had failed to prosecute senior military and police officials credibly implicated in torture, sexual violence, and extrajudicial executions. The organization consistently argued that accountability efforts in Afghanistan should encompass crimes allegedly committed not only by the Taliban but also by former government forces and other parties to the conflict.
On 5 March 2020, the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) authorized the Prosecutor to proceed with a formal investigation into alleged crimes committed in Afghanistan. Since Afghanistan became a State Party to the Rome Statute in 2003, crimes falling within the Court’s jurisdiction may be investigated regardless of subsequent political developments.
Under Article 28 of the Rome Statute, senior civilian and military leaders may bear command responsibility where they knew, or should have known, that subordinates were committing crimes and failed to prevent them or punish those responsible. Within this legal framework, former President Ashraf Ghani, former First Vice President Amrullah Saleh, former National Security Adviser Hamdullah Mohib, and former NDS Director Ahmad Zia Saraj could potentially face legal scrutiny regarding command responsibility, should evidence establish the necessary legal elements. The Office of the ICC Prosecutor possesses the authority to examine the conduct of all individuals allegedly involved throughout the chain of command.
Because Ghani, Saleh, Mohib, and Saraj are now believed to reside outside Afghanistan, the principle of universal jurisdiction offers another potential legal avenue. Countries including Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Sweden have incorporated universal jurisdiction into their domestic legal systems, allowing national courts to investigate and prosecute certain international crimes including war crimes and unlawful killings regardless of where they occurred or the nationality of those involved, provided the legal requirements under their respective laws are satisfied.
The reported killings also raise serious concerns under Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which guarantees the inherent right to life. Survivors and relatives of the victims may seek legal remedies before competent foreign courts, relying on official admissions by the former NDS, forensic documentation, witness testimony, and other available evidence.
The collapse of a government does not extinguish criminal responsibility for serious violations of international law. If established as unlawful state killings, the deaths of Nasir Abdulrahman and his neighbors would remain subject to international legal scrutiny irrespective of political change. Future investigations by international judicial mechanisms could seek to determine who authorized the operation, who planned it, who supervised its execution, and whether responsibility extends through the entire chain of command from the Presidential Palace to the leadership of the National Directorate of Security and the operational officers involved.
Finally, the prolonged silence surrounding this case from segments of the media, civil society organizations, and some human rights advocates has itself become a subject of public debate. For many observers, accountability should extend beyond those who allegedly committed or authorized the killings to include a broader examination of institutional failures that allowed the case to fade without meaningful judicial review.
