Taliban killed dozens of ex-Afghan officials: UN

Bloomberg

The Taliban have killed dozens of former Afghan officials, security forces and individuals who worked with international troops since the militant group took over the country in mid-August, the Associated Press reported, citing a United Nations report.
Of the more than 100 killings identified by the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a report obtained by the news agency, more than two-thirds were committed extra-judicially by the Taliban and affiliates despite a general amnesty.
The UN report is “baseless and untrue,” Tailban deputy spokesman Bilal Karimi said by phone. “There might have been some 15 to 20 cases of killings nationwide that were only due to personal enmity,” he said. “The perpetrators do not represent us. They have been detained, and are now in custody.”
The report on the killings comes as the militant group seeks assistance to get its Islamic Emirate government internationally recognized and to unfreeze billions of dollars of overseas reserves. The U.S., its allies and even Russia and China have yet to recognize the Taliban government due to concerns over continued links with terrorism as well as human rights abuses.
Guterres said in the report to the Security Council that eight civil society activists were killed, including three by the Taliban, while UN missions also documented more than 40 instances of beatings, temporary arrests and acts of intimidation. He also said the UN has received credible information that at least 50 people associated with the local offshoot of the IS where killed.
Since taking power last August, the Taliban have insisted they have made progress preventing the country from being used for terror activities while forming an inclusive government. However the deteriorating security situation and the slow trickle of humanitarian aid has led to a cash crunch in Afghanistan.
Last week, Guterres called on the World Bank to immediately release a pending $1.2 billion in reconstruction funds to Afghanistan to ease a growing humanitarian crisis.
The UN previously warned that more than half of the country’s population faces acute hunger and almost all Afghans could be living in poverty by mid-2022.
US President Joe Biden on Sunday called on the Taliban to release American civil engineer Mark Frerichs who was taken hostage two years ago.
“The Taliban must immediately release Mark before it can expect any consideration of its aspirations for legitimacy,” Biden said. “This is not negotiable.”