Former army official warns: Taliban torture and assassinate former soldiers
Hibatullah Alizai, the last former Afghan army chief of staff, said the Taliban secretly arrested, tortured and even assassinated former soldiers every day.
In an interview with the Long War Journal published on Monday, Alizai stressed that Taliban prisons in provinces such as Kandahar, Helmand, Ghazni, Nangarhar, Kunar and northern Afghanistan are full of former soldiers and officers.
He added that the Taliban had arrested the men on charges such as collaborating with the resistance fronts or Islamic extremist groups, while the fate of many of them was unknown.
Alizai also called the deportation of former soldiers from Iran and Pakistan worrying, saying their return to Afghanistan puts them at risk of arrest and imprisonment.
He pointed to the deteriorating security situation in the country, warning that ISIS is significantly strengthening and al-Qaeda is also active in Afghanistan. Alizai stressed that the Afghan people do not consider the Taliban legitimate and that various forms of resistance continue.
The statement comes as there have been repeated reports of violations of the rights of former soldiers by the Taliban.
