Fear of revenge grows in Afghanistan: who is on the 'black list' of the Taliban

2021-08-22T15:25:11.868Z

Although they seek to be kinder to the international community, many doubt their promises of amnesty.

David fox

08/22/2021 12:00

Clarín.com
World

Updated 08/22/2021 12:00

Fears that the Taliban will renege on their promises to pardon their detractors and their families rose on Friday in Afghanistan, where Western countries carry out an evacuation operation that has turned chaotic and unpredictable.

The "final result" of this evacuation is a mystery, as admitted by the president of the United States, Joe Biden, who on Friday said it was one of the most difficult in history.

Tens of thousands of Afghans have been trying to leave the country since Sunday when the radical Islamist movement took control of Kabul after a swift offensive that surprised the United States and its allies, two weeks before its withdrawal.

Human rights organizations called on Biden to keep US troops beyond August 31 in Kabul, where they guarantee airport security during the evacuation of foreigners and Afghans.

But in a speech from the White House, the president assured this Friday that he cannot guarantee "the final result" of the Kabul evacuation operation, one of the "most difficult in history" at the end of a 20-year war in Afghanistan.

Hundreds of people run alongside a US Air Force plane at Kabul airport last Monday trying to flee Photo: AP

"This evacuation mission is dangerous. It involves risks for our armed forces and is carried out under difficult circumstances," said Biden, criticized for the chaos of an operation hampered by Taliban controls in the vicinity of the airport.

Difficult access to the airport

Biden assured that they are "in constant contact with the Taliban" to achieve "safe access" for civilians to the airport and stressed that the situation did not affect the "credibility" of the United States on the international scene.

NATO, which was instrumental in the military effort in Afghanistan, also called on the Taliban to allow the evacuation of those who wish to leave.

Evacuations of civilians were suspended for several hours on Friday due to the saturation of US bases in the Gulf, especially in Qatar, where thousands of refugees already are, according to the Pentagon.

Images of women were attacked in recent days in Kabul and other cities.

Photo: EFE

The calls to the Taliban come in a context of

fear within the country for the reprisals of the radical

Islamist

group

, despite its promises of tolerance and reconciliation.

The Taliban are trying to convince the world and Afghans that they will not exercise power in the same way as between 1996 and 2001, when they imposed

an extremely rigorous vision of sharia, Islamic law,

which penalized women especially.

Candidates for arrest

But, according to a confidential UN document consulted by the AFP agency,

Islamists have "priority lists" of people they want to arrest.

At the forefront are those who held positions of responsibility in the Afghan armed forces, police and intelligence units.

Sharia, Islamic law.

/ AFP

"They target the families of those who refuse to surrender and punish them based on sharia" or Islamic law, Christian Nellemann, director of the Norwegian Center for Global Analysis, told AFP.

This Friday, the German public channel

Deutsche Welle

reported that the relative of a journalist who worked for them in Afghanistan and who is already in Germany was killed by the Taliban.

Panic among journalists

"Panic and fear" reign among Afghan journalists

, particularly women, the International Federation of Journalists (IJF) reported on Friday, saying it had received "hundreds of requests for help."

Some signs of opposition to the new regime began to emerge.

Armed villagers seized three districts of Baghlan province (north) from Islamists on Friday, according to local media.

In the Panshir Valley, northeast of Kabul, Ahmad Masud, son of the famous commander Masud, assassinated by Al Qaida in 2001, together with former Vice President Amrullah Saleh, urged the resistance and claimed that they are gathering men, civilians and former soldiers.

Taliban fighters, in a Kabul street.

Photo: AP

This region is the only one that is not controlled by the Taliban.

Small isolated protests were also held this week in cities across Afghanistan, with Afghans waving the country's black, red and green flag.

International skepticism

The majority of the international community observes skeptical and affirms that it will judge "the acts" and not the words of the Islamists, who have assured that they want good diplomatic relations with all the countries, but that they will not accept any interference.

Russian President Vladimir Putin called on the international community to prevent the "collapse" of Afghanistan and warned that "terrorists" must be prevented from leaving the country, hidden as refugees.

This Friday, the UN World Food Program (WFP) warned that one in three Afghans suffers from food insecurity and that "two million children are at risk of malnutrition."

Source: AFP

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