Taliban Denies the Claims of “Attacks against Civilians” in North Afghanistan

Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesman for the Taliban’s de facto government in Afghanistan, denied the claims of extrajudicial killings and attacks against civilians in the northern Sar-e-Pol province’s Balkhab district, calling the Amnesty International report “baseless”.

“We have no civilian casualties in Balkhab Sar-e-Pol,” he wrote on his twitter handle on June 27, labeling the report of the Amnesty International on the matter “unfounded” and “baseless”. “Such misleading reports severely damage the reputation of such prestigious international organizations,” he wrote. In an effort to put an end to an armed insurgency in the north of the country, Taliban authorities in Afghanistan are accused of engaging in extrajudicial killings and other violations of human rights. On Monday, claims of abuses in the chaotic Balkhab district in Sar-e Pol province’s north were deemed alarming by the United Nations and rights watchdogs, who called the Islamist party in power to hold those who are accountable. The claims were a result of recent Taliban military operations against Mawlawi Mahdi Mujahid, aka Mawlawi Mujahid, a “disgruntled” Taliban commander in Balkhab. Following days of army patrols in the Balkhab district in an effort to capture or kill Mawlawi Mujahid, the Taliban launched an offensive on the area last Thursday, using thousands of fighters—including suicide bombers—hundreds of US-made military vehicles, and air forces. The Taliban’s aggressive and inhumane behavior has alarmed Richard Bennett, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation in Afghanistan as on Monday, June 27, he tweeted that reports of unlawful killings, forced displacement, destruction of private property, and other human rights violations in Sar-e-Pol’s Balkhab district are concerning.