(The National) The leader of Afghanistan’s only region not to have fallen to the Taliban has said he would be willing to join a Taliban government, but only if the group proved itself to be inclusive and respect the rights of all Afghans.
Ahmad Massoud, 32, leads forces in the Panjshir valley and said that war was on the cards if the group attempted an attack on his region.
In his first interview since the fall of Kabul last week, he told The National he had seen little evidence the group had changed over the past two decades.
He poured scorn on the group’s promise not to seek revenge against Afghans who had worked for the government or foreign forces.
“The pardon that the Taliban mentioned is just a sham — it is not real,” he said.
The Taliban have stepped up their search for people who worked for Nato forces or the previous Afghan government, a document prepared for the UN has warned.
It said the militants have been going door-to-door to find targets and threaten their family members.
The hardline Islamist group has tried to reassure Afghans since seizing power in a lightning offensive, promising there would be "no revenge".
But there are growing fears of a gap between what they say and what they do.
The warning the group were targeting "collaborators" came in a confidential document by the RHIPTO Norwegian Center for Global Analyses, which provides intelligence to the UN.
"There are a high number of individuals that are currently being targeted by the Taliban and the threat is crystal clear," Christian Nellemann, who heads the group behind the report, told the BBC.
And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future
In Kabul, university students should be getting ready for the start of a new term. Instead, many are destroying evidence of their previous lives as the Taliban patrol the streets outside.
For one student - a woman, and a member of the persecuted Hazara minority, which in recent years has faced abductions and killings at the hands of the Taliban - the men outside pose even more risk. Here, she tells the BBC how the dreams she hoped to fulfil have been replaced by fears for her future survival in just a matter of days.
It's something that I can't put into words, honestly. Everything, everything that I dreamed of, everything that I ever worked for. My dignity, my pride, even my existence as a girl, my life - they are all in danger. Who knows how long it would take them to come and search house-by-house and take girls - probably rape them. I may have to kill myself when they come to my home. I've been talking to my friends, this is what all of us, all of us, are planning to do. Death is better than being taken by them.
We are all scared and we are scared to our bones.
Two months ago my only focus was on my degree. I was planning how to study for the fall semester, what to do, what not to do, making schedules, trying to make everything correct.
Various people were scared as the Taliban were taking provinces, but I and others never thought they would take Kabul.
My life was normal until they took Mazar-i-Sharif (a large city north-west of Kabul, that was an anti-Taliban bastion). That day I realised we were finished. Then they got to Kabul. There was some gunfire in the city and we heard that the Taliban were in every neighbourhood.
Then, nothing was normal.
And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future
Afghanistan: Taliban 'tortured and massacred' men from Hazara minority
Source: BBC
The Hazara community is Afghanistan's third largest ethnic group.
They mainly practise Shia Islam and have faced long-term discrimination and persecution in predominantly Sunni Afghanistan and Pakistan.
In the report published on Thursday, Amnesty said the nine Hazara men were killed between 4 and 6 July in Malistan district in the eastern Ghazni province.
...
In total six men were allegedly shot, some in the head, and three were tortured to death.
Taliban Quash Afghanistan Protests, Tightening Grip on Country
Source: New York Times
The Taliban cracked down on protests that erupted in at least four cities in Afghanistan on Thursday and rounded up opponents despite promises of amnesty, even as fearful workers stayed home and thousands of people continued a frenzied rush to leave the country.
Even as the Taliban moved to assert control, hundreds of protesters took to the streets for a second day to rally against their rule, this time marching in Kabul, the capital, as well as other cities. Again, the Taliban met them with force, using gunfire and beatings to disperse crowds. And again the actions of Taliban foot soldiers undermined the leadership’s suggestions that, having taken power, they would moderate the brutality they have long been known for.
The police officers who served the old government have melted away, and instead armed Taliban fighters are operating checkpoints and directing traffic, administering their notions of justice as they see fit, with little consistency from one to another.
The Taliban were stepping up an intensive search for people who worked with U.S. and NATO forces, particularly members of the former Afghan security services, according to witnesses and a security assessment prepared for the United Nations. Though the Taliban have said there would be no reprisals, there have been arrests, property seizures and scattered reports of reprisal killings.
Afghan National Resistance Forces have recaptured three districts in Baghlan province, north of Kabul, witness, and the Afghan Minister of Defence said on Friday.
Sources close to Amrullah Saleh confirmed to The National that resistance forces recaptured Pul-e-Hisar, Deh-e Saleh and Banoo districts that make up the Andarab region in southern Baghlan province.
"The resistance is still alive," Gen Bismillah Mohammadi tweeted from Panjshir.
And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future
Taliban going 'house to house' in Afghanistan 'hanging' people who worked with US: source
Marine Sgt. Ryan Rogers says the interpreter he worked alongside in Marjah is now trapped in Kabul
By Michael Ruiz | Fox News
Fox News senior strategic analyst Gen. Jack Keane gives his take on the collapse of Afghanistan and bringing Americans home on 'The Story'
As the U.S. military and State Department rush to evacuate American citizens and Afghan allies from Kabul’s airport, Taliban checkpoints are cutting off many from freedom and safety – and reports on the ground indicate the militants are summarily executing people who helped U.S. forces over the years.
Ryan Rogers, a retired Marine sergeant, told Fox News Thursday that the interpreter he worked with during the bloody 2010 battle of Marjah in Helmand province is currently trapped in Kabul, prevented from reaching the airport as Taliban fighters seek out and murder former Afghan commandoes and interpreters.
This is going from bad to a catastrophe for Biden. The US forces can't move in and get the people stuck in Kabul? Taliban is stronger than the US military?
This is going from bad to a catastrophe for Biden. The US forces can't move in and get the people stuck in Kabul? Taliban is stronger than the US military?
This is going from bad to a catastrophe for Biden. The US forces can't move in and get the people stuck in Kabul? Taliban is stronger than the US military?
It's why I say stimulus checks are inevitable.
Sure, he was dealt the bitchiest of bitch hands by Trump, but he allowed this to happen on his watch. Only way to save his approval rating is welfare.
And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future
