Afghanistan: Taliban deny allegations of ‘summary executions’ of ex-soldiers

The Taliban today denied that they had killed dozens of former members of the Afghan security forces since they returned to power, as the United States, its Western allies and human rights groups reported yesterday.

“This information is not based on any evidence. We reject it,” Taliban Interior Ministry spokesman Kari Sayed Kosti said in a video message to the press.

“There have been killings of former members of the security forces” of the government that was overthrown last summer, “but because of rivalries or personal animosities,” he said.

“If they have documents and evidence, they should show it to us,” he said, referring to Western countries, saying it was “unfair” to blame the Taliban for the killings.

Costi also recalled that the Taliban, upon their return to power, declared a general amnesty for all security forces of the former regime.

Many of them are “living peacefully” in the country thanks to this amnesty, while “hundreds of Taliban fighters and civilians were killed” during the last two decades of the war, he stressed.

Yesterday, the United States and its Western allies, such as Britain and the European Union, accused the Taliban regime of “summary executions” of former members of the Afghan security forces, which were revealed by human rights groups.

“We are deeply concerned about reports of extrajudicial executions and enforced disappearances of former members of the Afghan security forces, as documented by Human Rights Watch and others,” said some 20 countries, including Britain and Japan. and the European Union, in a statement released by the US State Department.

Source: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ