A threat assessment from the United Nations warns the Taliban is intensifying a search for people who worked with US and NATO forces and going “door to door” to find them.
The confidential report – provided by the UN’s threat-assessment consultants and seen by a number of news media – says the group has “priority lists” of individuals it wants to arrest and is threatening to kill or arrest family members if the wanted do not give themselves up.
People on the way to Kabul airport are also being screened with checkpoints in major cities, including the capital and Jalalabad.
“They are targeting the families of those who refuse to give themselves up, and prosecuting and punishing their families ‘according to Sharia law,'” Christian Nellemann, the executive director of the Norwegian Center for Global Analyses, which wrote the report for the UN, told AFP.
“We expect both individuals previously working with NATO/US forces and their allies, alongside with their family members to be exposed to torture and executions. This will further jeopardise western intelligence services, their networks, methods and ability to counter both the Taliban, ISIS and other terrorist threats ahead,” he added.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the Taliban’s desire for international recognition is the Security Council’s only leverage to press for inclusive government and respect for rights, particularly for women, in Afghanistan.
Guterres said he was ready to speak with the Taliban himself “when it is clear with whom should I speak, for what purpose”.
For now, UN officials in Kabul have been in close contact with the Taliban, he added.
“It’s very important for the international community to be united, for all members of the Security Council to be united, to use the only leverage that exists, which is the interests of the Taliban for legitimacy for recognition,” he said.
Amnesty International released a report accusing the Taliban of committing a “brutal” massacre against members of the Persian-speaking Hazara ethnic group in the village of Mundarakht, Malistan district, southwest of Kabul.
Citing witnesses, the rights group said the Taliban fatally shot six men and tortured three others to death in Mundarakht early in July.
“The cold-blooded brutality of these killings is a reminder of the Taliban’s past record, and a horrifying indicator of what Taliban rule may bring,” Agnes Callamard, Amnesty International’s secretary-general, said in a statement.
The United States has not contacted Afghan President Ashraf Ghani since he fled the country on Sunday, effectively surrendering the capital Kabul to the Taliban, said State Department spokesman Ned Price.
Price said Washington is in touch with “stakeholders” in Afghanistan, including the Taliban, but not Ghani.
“My understanding is that we have not had any contact with President Ghani since he fled the country,” Price said.