Former Army Spokesperson: Taliban Killed 3,000 Former Soldiers in Past Four Years.
Ajmal Omar Shinwari, a spokesman for the former Afghan government’s armed forces, says that the Taliban have killed more than 3,000 former soldiers and officers in the past four years.
In an interview with a private media outlet, he added that more than 8,000 former soldiers are currently being held in Taliban prisons and private detention centers.
According to Shinwari, many of these individuals have been rearrested or disappeared after the Taliban promised a “general amnesty.”
He warned that the continuation of such behavior has increased the atmosphere of distrust and fear among former soldiers and their families.
In recent years, international organizations including the United Nations and Human Rights Watch have also published similar reports of detention, torture, and targeted killings of former security forces.
According to one such report, dozens of former soldiers and officers have been killed without trial in Balkh, Parwan, Kapisa and Kandahar provinces.
The Taliban have consistently denied the allegations, saying their forces adhere to a “general amnesty”;
But victims’ families and local sources say that cases of disappearances and targeted killings of former forces continue.
