Human Rights Watch should not base its reports on misinformation, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said
The Taliban, a radical movement that has seized power in Afghanistan (banned in the Russian Federation), have rejected accusations of alleged war crimes by human rights watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW), a non-governmental human rights organisation. This was reported by TOLOnews TV channel on Tuesday.
“We strongly reject the HRW report which stated that the Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate [Afghanistan] (self-name of the Taliban system) have allegedly committed war crimes”, – said Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, quoted by the TV channel as saying. He added that the organisation should not base its reports on misinformation. – “They should scrutinise the facts of what was happening in the Afghan provinces themselves”, – said Mujahid, who was appointed last week as deputy minister of information and culture of the Taliban government.
HRW released a report in early August alleging that the Taliban had executed detained soldiers, policemen and civilians allegedly linked to the Afghan government without due process when attacking Afghan provinces, including Ghazni and Kandahar.
“The execution of any detainee, whether civilian or military, without due process of law is a serious violation of the Geneva Conventions and a war crime”, – said HRW Asia deputy director Patricia Gossman.
The Taliban have launched a massive operation to take control of Afghanistan after the US announced in the spring its intention to withdraw military forces from there. President Ashraf Ghani stepped down and left the country on 15 August and the Taliban entered Kabul without a fight. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid announced the composition of the new interim government on 7 September.