Over 100 police and intelligence officers of the former Afghan government have been abducted, killed, and “summarily executed” by the Taliban since the group took over power in Afghanistan, Human Rights Watch said in its latest report. Targeted assassination, the report said, continued against employees of the former government despite the announcement of a general amnesty.

The Taliban, which stormed into Kabul in August this year, is now using the records left by the erstwhile government to pinpoint the names of former intelligence and police officials. Among the dead are those who had already surrendered to the Taliban or those who had secured security guarantees from the Taliban commission, the report said.

“The pattern of killings has sown terror throughout Afghanistan, as no one associated with the former government can feel secure they have escaped the threat of reprisal,” Human Rights Watch said in the report.

The rights watchdog said it had documented--through interviews with witnesses, relatives, former government officials, Taliban officials, and others--the killings or enforced “disappearance” of 47 former armed forces members in four provinces between Aug. 15 and Oct. 31. It said its research indicated at least another 53 killings or disappearances took place as well.

Local commanders in the Taliban have already drawn up a list of people to be targeted for their so-called “unforgivable” acts. A day after the Taliban walked into the streets of Kabul, the group had announced a general amnesty for the officials associated with the former US-backed government. 

Those assurances, however, seemed for the consumption of the international press and foreign governments as no substantive actions were taken to put those words into action on the ground. 

Taliban fighters have also targeted anyone they suspect of supporting the Islamic State group--the group that emerged as a significant challenge for the Taliban-- in eastern Nangarhar province, an epicenter of IS attacks, the report said. 

On Tuesday, Taliban special forces, Badri unit, stormed a hideout of ISIS militants, resulting in an eight-hour-long gunbattle in Jalalabad. Two militants blew up their suicide vests and another was killed by the Taliban fighters. 

Taliban Prime Minister Mullah Hasan Akhund, in his first public speech, earlier this week, denied that any kind of extra-judicial killings was carried out by the Taliban. He also mentioned the general amnesty announced by the group.

“The burden is on the Taliban to prevent further killings, hold those responsible to account and compensate the victims’ families,” said Patricia Gossman, Associate Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said.

(SAM)