KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – A Taliban fighter has told a British YouTuber that he killed 14 people in a single day in Afghanistan’s Panjshir province.
The fighter made the remarks during a conversation with Will Bailey, a British YouTuber who recently published a video documenting his visit to Afghanistan.
During the conversation, Bailey asked the Taliban fighter how he feels when he kills someone. The fighter said he feels no emotion when killing someone he considers a “non-believer” or someone who does not accept Sharia law. He compared killing such a person to killing a chicken.
The fighter said his feelings were different when a person was killed because of personal hostility.
Bailey then asked the fighter how many people he had killed. The fighter said he remembered only one incident, in which he claimed to have killed 14 people in a single day in Panjshir.
Bailey’s interpreter explained that the Taliban fighter was referring to members of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRF), an armed opposition group that emerged after the Taliban seized power in August 2021.
The video has triggered reactions on social media, with some users describing the fighter’s account as an apparent admission of killings.
The claim made in the video could not independently be verified. It is also unclear from the conversation when the alleged killings took place or the identities and circumstances of those who were killed.
Panjshir became the main center of armed resistance against the Taliban after the group took control of most of Afghanistan in August 2021. Taliban forces subsequently deployed large numbers of fighters to the province as the NRF mounted attacks against Taliban positions.
Human Rights Watch reported in June 2022 that Taliban forces in Panjshir had carried out arbitrary arrests, torture and other abuses against residents accused of supporting the NRF. The organization also reported cases in which people suspected of links to the resistance group were allegedly killed or disappeared.
A UNAMA report covering the period from August 2021 to June 2022 documented 18 cases of extrajudicial killings, 54 cases of torture and ill-treatment, and 113 cases of arbitrary arrest and detention involving people accused of affiliation with the NRF.
Amnesty International also reported in 2023 that Taliban forces in Panjshir had subjected civilians and suspected NRF members to collective punishment, torture, extrajudicial executions, hostage-taking, destruction of civilian homes and arbitrary detention. The organization said some of these actions could constitute violations of international humanitarian law and war crimes.
The Taliban authorities have previously rejected allegations of systematic abuses by their forces and have maintained that their security operations are aimed at maintaining security and suppressing armed opposition.
The latest video comes amid continuing concerns from international human rights organizations about accountability for abuses allegedly committed by Taliban forces since their return to power in 2021. UNAMA reported in 2023 that it had documented at least 800 cases of extrajudicial killing, arbitrary arrest and detention, torture and ill-treatment, and enforced disappearance involving former government officials and members of Afghanistan’s former security forces between August 2021 and June 2023.
