A UN document has warned that the Taliban have stepped up their search for the people who worked for NATO forces or the previous Afghan government. The document states that the militants have been going door-to-door to find targets and threaten their families.
The Taliban has tried to reassure Afghans, since seizing power over the weekend, that there would be “no revenge” but there are growing fears of a gap between what they say and what they do.
The warning that the Taliban were targeting “collaborators” came in a confidential document by the RHIPTO Norwegian Center for Global Analyses, which provide intelligence to the UN.
Christian Nellemann, who heads the group behind the report, said that: “There are a high number of individuals that are currently being targeted by the Taliban and the threat is crystal clear. It is in writing that, unless they give themselves in, the Taliban will arrest and prosecute, interrogate and punish family members on behalf of those individuals.”
He warned that anyone on the Taliban’s blacklist was in severe damage and that there could be mass executions. Foreign powers are continuing their efforts to get their nationals out of Afghanistan. A NATO official said on Friday that over 18 000 people have been evacuated in the last five days from Kabul airport.
Some 6 000 more, among them former interpreters for foreign armed forces, are on standby to be flown out late on Thursday or early Friday. The aim is to double evacuation efforts over the weekend according to the NATO official.
Outside the airport, the situation remains chaotic with the Taliban blocking Afghans trying to flee and anti-Taliban protest taking place in several cities. The Taliban also reportedly have control over thousands of US-made armoured vehicles, 30-40 aircraft and a large number of small arms.
Sources: BBC, MSN
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