RASC News Agency: In the relentless pursuit of vengeance, the ruthless Taliban group has escalated the detention, murder, and torture of former Afghanistan government soldiers in recent months. In the past week alone, they have mercilessly taken the lives of seven former military personnel and apprehended six others. According to reports from the RASC News Agency, the Taliban has intensified targeted killings, arrests, and imprisonment of security forces loyal to the previous Afghanistan government over the past two months. They have not only detained but also killed a number of these soldiers who sought to return to their homes in the northern regions after being expelled from Iran. The Taliban carried out these arrests and imprisonments in border provinces such as Nimruz and Herat.
In the latest incident, sources in Takhar province have confirmed to the RASC news agency that Taliban intelligence has detained two former government soldiers immediately after their expulsion from Iran in the Nimroz Province. The individuals, identified as Gholam Mohammad Nazari and Asifullah Azimi, originally hail from Rostaq district in Takhar province. They were arrested on November 17th, at the Nimruz border and subsequently imprisoned. The Taliban, who have detained and imprisoned hundreds of former government soldiers in various provinces, especially in the northern parts of the country, have intensified these practices in recent months. Collaborating with their informants, several of whom are spies in their ranks, Taliban intelligence is making every effort to identify, detain, and execute former military personnel.
On the other side, local sources from Daykundi province have informed the RASC News Agency that the Taliban launched an attack at the residence of the former security chief of Miramor district, located in the center of Daykundi province, on Sunday the 19th of November. According to sources, the slain soldier was identified as Dawood Wahdat, who had also served as an intelligence officer for the Taliban after their takeover of Afghanistan. Following the Taliban’s assumption of power, he had carried out duties under the Taliban police command in Daykundi. Following the increased acts of revenge by the Taliban against former Afghanistan government soldiers in recent months, UNAMA has reported on these retaliatory actions and mysterious killings of civilians by the Taliban. The report states that over the past two years, the Taliban has committed over 800 cases of extrajudicial killings and torture, with a minimum of 218 government officials and former security force members murdered by the group. Astonishingly, those responsible for these heinous crimes have enjoyed impunity from arrest.
The systematic killing of former soldiers, influential figures, and civilians belonging to non-Pashtun ethnic groups, particularly in the northern provinces, is an integral part of Taliban’s vengeful policies which persistently plague the region. The former Afghanistan government soldiers, who sacrificed their lives for ensuring the security of the Afghanistani people, have fallen victim to the Taliban’s captivity and the barbarity of other terrorist groups after the Doha Agreement handed over Afghanistan to the Taliban. They are continuously subjected to arrests, torture, and execution at the hands of the Taliban intelligence.
The deliberate killings of former soldiers by the Taliban intelligence have severely restricted their ability to live a normal life in the country and have pushed them to the brink of despair. The harrowing torture and dire fate of former military personnel, coupled with their relentless suffering in the prisons of the Taliban, have driven them to amplify their voices worldwide. In the most recent development, five thousand of these military personnel have sent an open letter to the United States Congress, beseeching America, the very country that surrendered Afghanistan to this group through the signing of the Doha Agreement, to pay heed to the plight of the former soldiers who currently reside in Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Dated 18th of November, the letter was sent to the United States Congress by the Committee for the Support of Former Afghanistani Military Personnel, representing five thousand former military personnel, with one thousand of them being women. The letter highlights the alarming condition of the former government’s military personnel and implores the US Congress to exert pressure on the Taliban, concerning the urgent release of these veterans from Taliban prisons, the cessation of massacres, detentions, and the cruel torture inflicted upon them.
On the other side, members of the Purple Saturday’s Movement in the Balkh province organized a protest in a confined space, issuing the slogan “Women and former military personnel gradually succumb under the rule of the Taliban”. They welcomed the letter sent by these military personnel to the United States Congress and emphasized that the Taliban exacerbate ethnic, religious, and linguistic biases, using various pretexts to target local individuals alongside the former military personnel. According to the movement, the Taliban arbitrarily detain, torture, and in most cases, ruthlessly murder former military personnel, including women within their ranks, on a daily basis.
