KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – International rights group Amnesty International says the Taliban uses enforced disappearances as a tool to suppress groups critical of its draconian policies.
In a post on X on the International Day of the Disappeared, August 30, the rights group stated that the targeted groups include journalists, rights defenders, women protesters, and others perceived as opposing the Taliban.
Amnesty International has called on the Taliban to immediately halt the use of enforced disappearances and release all individuals currently in their custody across Afghanistan.
The rights groups also urged the Taliban authorities to hold those responsible for the egregious crime of enforced disappearance accountable and to bring them to justice.
Under international human rights law, enforced disappearances are defined as the arrest or detention of an individual by authorities, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the detention or disclose the person’s fate or whereabouts.
It violates several fundamental rights protected under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, including prohibitions against arbitrary arrest and detention, torture and ill-treatment, and extrajudicial execution.
Afghanistan ranks among the countries with the highest number of enforced disappearances in the world, with tens of thousands having gone missing after being detained by governments and militia groups over the past decades of conflict.
Enforced disappearances have continued in the country following the Taliban’s return to power, with hundreds of people, particularly former government officials, activists, and members of opposition groups, having gone missing during the past three years of their rule.
The US-based rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) categorizes the Taliban among the abusive authorities that have extensively used enforced disappearances to assert control and instill fear among their opponents over the past 46 years.
In an article published yesterday, HRW stated that the victims of the Taliban’s enforced disappearances include former security forces, many of whom may have already been summarily executed, and women protesters who have been held incommunicado.
In a 2021 report following the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, HRW documented over 100 cases of executions and enforced disappearances of former ANDSF members across the provinces of Ghazni, Helmand, Kunduz, and Kandahar within just three months.
“In the weeks before the Taliban overran Kabul, revenge killings, including the targeting of government officials, were already on the increase in major cities and along key highways,” the rights group said.
“This was evident in July when Taliban forces escalated their operations around Kandahar city and carried out summary executions of surrendered and captured members of the security forces,” it added.
These incidents are occurring despite the Taliban’s declared amnesty for former government civilian and military officials, along with assurances from Taliban leadership that they are holding their forces accountable for violating the amnesty order.
