— by Thoughtfox staff —

The London-based human rights organization Amnesty International (AI) has accused the Taliban of killing nine Hazara men in Mundarakht—a village in the Malistan district of the Ghazni province. These killings occurred sometime between the 4th and the 6th of July; AI’s press release reporting them is dated August 19.

Six of these ‘men were shot and three were tortured to death’, according to the press release. None of these men was a combatant or even a resistor; they were all unarmed, and were simply on the lookout for safety or engaging in some necessary errands. The oldest of these victims was a 75-year old Sayeed Ahmad; two other victims had mental-health challenges.

These killings and torture—whose details are sketched out in the press release—had followed or were part of looting episodes and rampages in the area by the Taliban. Many residents had fled the area owing to this violence—but the Taliban, the eyewitnesses told AI, had been awaiting their return, which led up to some of these specific killings and acts of torture.

While the Hazara are an oppressed, Persian-speaking ethnic minority of Afghanistan and Pakistan, the AI report does not specify whether these killings and torture were tied to these individuals’ status as such. One witness statement appears to suggest that these were basically mindless executions: ‘“We asked the Taliban why they did this, and they told us, ‘When it is the time of conflict, everyone dies, it doesn’t matter if you have guns or not. It is the time of war.”’

AI insists that these specific acts of violence are ‘a tiny fraction of’ the Taliban’s overall toll on the Afghan people—as it had been difficult to access information from the country because the Taliban had been disrupting mobile telephony with their unfolding advances on the ground. The AI press release thus appeals to relevant United Nations bodies to pressure the Taliban into respecting ‘international human rights law’ and to investigate comprehensively (and hold them accountable for) their violations of it.

The AI press release could be accessed here.