Fearing Taliban fighters, 16 family members huddled in the bathroom of their home, turned off the lights and cell phones, and covered the children’s mouths to keep them quiet. This was a scene on Friday when the Taliban were reportedly conducting a door-to-door manhunt for people who had helped the US armed forces or the previous Afghan government. It was alleged that the militants went door to door to find targets and threaten their family members.
There is a climate of terror everywhere – a former Afghan told Reuters earlier how his family members at home in Kabul were crouching in the bathroom with the lights off and the little children’s mouths locked when the Taliban knocked on their door. You have already lost two loved ones to the Taliban’s war against the former US-backed Afghan government.
“My family is scared. Every second they see a car drive down the street, they run to the washroom,” said the family member, who is trying to get his relatives out of the country and appealing to several governments to get them visas.
“Food is limited and prices have gone up,” he was quoted by Reuters as saying. “The situation for my family is terrible.”
According to the report, two family members had already been killed in recent years.
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Despite assurances by the Taliban not to retaliate, journalists, activists, former government officials and former soldiers are killing their lives in Afghanistan. The track record of the militant hard-line group and a spate of targeted attacks in recent months have reinforced the already concerned Afghans.
What is more? Taliban fighters carried out house-to-house searches and used “intimidation tactics,” media reported on Friday.
Armed Taliban fighters patrol Kabul, Afghanistan (AP photo)
While Taliban officials have declined to comment on these incidents, social media has been flooded with videos of armed men searching houses and beating people in the streets.
On Friday, the public broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported that Taliban fighters who allegedly carried out a house-to-house search, shot a relative of one of their journalists in Afghanistan and a second family member seriously injured.
The Taliban’s promise of moderation and more rights for women carries no weight for many Afghans. Local and foreign media reporters were attacked in broad daylight by insurgents patrolling the streets of Kabul and other major cities. Journalists were warned to stay away from their workplaces. Women’s rights activists went into hiding.
“There is no such thing as trust,” a government official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
According to an intelligence report by RHIPTO, the Taliban have a “black list” of key people who have supported the Afghan government and the US armed forces and have begun rounding up these people. Some were forcibly removed from their homes and detained for interrogation.
The hardline Islamist group has also reportedly targeted, arrested and punished the family members of these collaborators under Sharia law.
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The only way out of this nightmare is by plane, but for many Afghans at risk, it is a major challenge. Chaos has gripped Kabul International Airport, the only air base controlled by the US and Allied troops.
Hundreds of people gather near a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport aircraft on the edge of Kabul International Airport, Afghanistan (AP photo)
Thousands of desperate Afghans with papers, children and some belongings crowded the airport, where armed Taliban members urged those without travel documents to go home. At least twelve people have been killed in and around the airport since Sunday, said NATO and Taliban officials.
Heartbreaking scenes and testimonies have surfaced at the airport in recent days when people desperate to flee the country fell after being tied to an airplane and crying women tossed their babies over barbed wire soldiers.
President Joe Biden said the US has evacuated 13,000 people from Afghanistan since Aug. 14 and is working to get more people out. But time is running out; With every day that goes by, the Taliban tighten their influence on the country.
And for those left behind, a sword hangs over their heads and there is no telling when it might fall.
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(With inputs from Reuters)
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