KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has reported that at least seven former members of Afghanistan’s National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) have been killed across the country in the past three months.
In its latest human rights update, covering the period from 1 April to 30 June, UNAMA also recorded at least eight cases of arbitrary arrest and three cases of torture involving former government officials, including security personnel.
The report highlighted deadly clashes in Badakhshan province in May and June, where Taliban forces opened fire on protesters opposing the Taliban’s poppy eradication campaign. At least 10 people, mostly farmers, were killed and dozens wounded in the districts of Argo, Jurm, and Khash.
UNAMA also documented civilian casualties linked to attacks claimed by the anti-Taliban Afghanistan Freedom Front (AFF). According to the report, at least seven men were killed in northern Balkh province in April during attacks claimed by the AFF. Another attack in the province, with no group claiming responsibility, resulted in one death and nine injuries.
The report details the ongoing threat posed by unexploded ordnance. Over the three-month period, UNAMA recorded 70 civilian casualties caused by leftover explosives, including 18 girls, 35 boys, 13 men, and four women.
Cross-border violence from Pakistan is noted as an additional cause of civilian harm. UNAMA stated that mortar fire from Pakistani forces in Kunar and Nuristan provinces killed at least one boy and wounded two women, a four-year-old boy, and a teenage girl.
The report also notes increased Taliban restrictions on women’s freedom. Taliban forces have intensified monitoring of women’s clothing, barring those without burqas from markets and public transportation. The report includes cases where women were detained until relatives provided them with burqas.
According to the report, the Taliban morality police have instructed clinics, shops, government offices, and taxi drivers not to provide services to women without a male guardian (mahram).
UNAMA expressed concern about the Taliban’s increasing use of corporal punishment. Between April and June, at least 234 people, including 48 women and one boy, were subjected to judicial corporal punishment.
The Taliban has not responded to the latest UNAMA report but has previously dismissed similar findings as “propaganda.”
