World

Taliban displace residents, loot and set fire to their homes

July 8, 2021

Taliban militants ousted families from their homes, looted and set them on fire earlier this month in northern Afghanistan in retaliation for residents working with the government in Kabul, the government said in a report on Wednesday. Human Rights Watch (HRW).

The “retaliatory attacks” were carried out by rebels involved in a large-scale Taliban offensive. Islamist insurgents are emerging and have taken control of dozens of regions across Afghanistan, reportedly more than 150, particularly in Kunduz and other northern provinces, the NGO said.

“The Taliban leadership has the power to stop these abuses by its forces but it does not seem to have the will,” said Patricia Grossman, deputy director of the organization’s Asia division.

A Taliban spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Last month, the Islamist movement tweeted to its “officers” to protect public property and “treat citizens well.”

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The Taliban have launched an offensive, focusing on the north, as the US military moves to complete its withdrawal from the country after two decades of war. The Americans abandoned their main base, Bagram, earlier this week.

HRW said it had interviewed displaced residents by telephone this month from Bagi i-Serkat, a town in Kunduz province that had forced some 600 families to flee. Some fled to Taloqan, others to Faizabad.

From June 21 to 25, according to NGOs, the Taliban gave residents two hours to flee their homes and threatened those accused of supporting the Afghan government.

Taliban fighters killed two civilians, looted and set fire to abandoned houses, according to residents.

“We helped the government and it left us in the hands of the Taliban,” said the 24-year-old displaced, who was not named in the text for her safety. “Our houses were burned down. We are so scared. Both sides are forcing us to help them. “We are just poor people, we have no choice.”