Mary Onyia with reports from BBC
The Taliban fighters have, over the weekend, effectively occupied Kabul the capital city of Afghanistan after months of resistance, causing the Afghan leader Ashraf Ghani to flee to Tajikistan, according to reports.
The militants, who recently declared the war over, have seized territory at an alarming rate while Afghan government troops and their allied militias fail to put up an effective resistance – surrendering at times without even putting up a fight.
Afghan citizens, reports say, have consistently faced executions, forced marriages and other possible war crimes as the Taliban sweeps across the country, wrestling control from ineffective government forces as the U.S. troop withdrawal nears, according to U.S. officials and watchdog groups.
The U.S. embassy in Kabul said Wednesday that it was receiving reports that Taliban members were executing surrendering Afghan troops and unlawfully detaining some members of the government, including military leaders, provincial officials and police officers; an offence the US embassy reportedly tweeted could construed as “war crimes”.
A Taliban spokesman has, however, denied the allegation that the group was executing prisoners even as witness accounts contradicted that claim. The Taliban has also denied that its militants have demanded conquered territories provide them with females aged 15 and older as brides.
“The Taliban’s statements in Doha do not resemble their actions in Badakhshan, Ghazni, Helmand & Kandahar,” Ross Wilson, the U.S. chargé d’affaires in Kabul, wrote on Twitter, referencing stalled peace talks going on in the capital of Qatar. “Attempts to monopolize power through violence, fear, & war will only lead to international isolation.”