Several people were said to have been shot dead during demonstrations on Afghanistan Liberation Day on Thursday. At the same time, the Taliban has intensified its pursuit of people it believes worked for the US and NATO forces, according to international media reports.
Demonstrators raising the Afghan flag protested against Taliban control of several cities on Thursday, August 19, Afghanistan Liberation Day. The country was under British control until 1919.
Several people were killed after the Taliban opened fire on protesters in the cities of Asadabad and Khost. She says eyewitnesses Reuters spoke to.
– The flag is our identity, a group of men and some women reportedly waved black, red and green national flags to Reuters.
Vice President Amrullah Saleh praised the protesters on Twitter. On Tuesday, Saleh said he was the “legitimate ruling president” of Afghanistan after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country when the Taliban took control of Kabul on Sunday, August 15.
You should look for opponents
According to the big newspaper New York times The Taliban are said to have looked for Afghans who worked for the United States and NATO, even among the desperate crowds at Kabul airport, and threatened to kill and arrest family members if the Taliban did not find them.
The information will come from a confidential UN document dated August 18 Norwegian Center for Global Analysis Grant the newspaper access to .
The information violates the armed group’s public assertions that the Taliban does not seek revenge against its members and those who support the ousted government.
On the contrary, the internal UN memo states that the Taliban have lists of people they want to interrogate and punish, and information on their whereabouts.
The document also asserts that the Taliban went from door to door and arrested or threatened to kill and arrest family members of people the Taliban sought if the wanted persons did not report themselves.
pretend science
Military and police personnel in Afghanistan must be particularly vulnerable.
The UN document is said to have included a letter to a person who warned that if he did not follow orders, his family would be treated according to Islamic law.
The Taliban have repeatedly emphasized that they will not use victory to take revenge on people who have opposed them. The report says something very different and suggests the Taliban may carry out revenge killings – as the group did when it seized power in Afghanistan more than 20 years ago.
On Wednesday, August 18, a public demonstration in Jalalabad city was met with force as Taliban soldiers fired into the crowd and beat protesters and journalists.
At least three people were killed.
In some places in the city, protesters were said to have tore down white Taliban flags.
Trapped in the no-man’s land
At the Kabul airport, thousands of fleeing Afghans are also trapped in the neutral zone between Taliban checkpoints and the US iron ring around the area.
They cling to the hope that they will be allowed in and out of the country. Many hold visas to other countries and say they have been promised evacuation, but will not be allowed in.
– I spoke to a friend who is there with a message from the Spanish authorities that he can travel with Spanish citizens, but when he tried to get on the plane, they threatened to shoot him. A man told AFP that the Spaniards say he is safe if he enters, but he is not allowed in.
Expect free pass
The Taliban set up guards for some of the embassies, which take out their own citizens and Afghans, and which the Americans accept.
– There were people who were beaten outside the windows of the bus while trying to get in. A woman who arrived at the airport on Wednesday told AFP that the Taliban who were with us fired in the air to expel them.
On Thursday, the Americans said the Taliban had reneged on promises to allow Afghans working for the United States to come to the airport.
– We received reports that the Taliban are preventing Afghans who want to go to the airport and leave the country. We expect all US citizens, third-country nationals, and all Afghans willing to travel to do so safely and without harassment, US Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said.
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