Taliban denies killing former Afghan officials

The Taliban on Monday rejected the UN claim that the group has killed more than 100 former Afghan officials since they took power last August. "The UN secretary-general's information that hundreds of members of the previous government were killed after the rule of the Islamic Emirate is not true. After a general amnesty, no one is allowed to harm anyone," Zabihullah Mujahid, the interim government's spokesman, said on Twitter.  The Taliban flatly denied the report, saying no one has been killed since the general amnesty was announced by them, and called the report "biased".. “The UN should make itself familiar with the realities on the ground and not rely on information that may have been provided by "biased circles," the Taliban’s Interior Ministry was quoted as saying by TOLOnews. Former officials might have been killed due to personnel rivalry, and they have been investigating such cases, it added.

Earlier, the United Nations has said that more than 100 former members of the Afghan government, its security forces and those who worked with international troops have been killed since the Taliban took over the country. In a report, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that more than two-thirds of the victims were allegedly killed extrajudicially by the Taliban or its affiliates. The UN mission also documented 44 cases of temporary arrests, beatings and threats of intimidation, 42 of them by the Taliban Guterres said, human rights defenders and media workers also continue to come under attack, intimidation, harassment and killings. The Taliban initially promised a general amnesty for those linked to the former government and international forces, and tolerance and inclusiveness toward women and ethnic minorities. However, the Taliban have renewed restrictions on women and appointed an all-male government, which have met with dismay by the international community.