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Documentary claims nearly two-thirds of troops deployed to Helmand province had died within months of recruitment
The Taliban executed scores of Afghan security forces members after surrendering in the Helmand province of Afghanistan, Human Rights Watch has said in a new report.
In one case filmed, as captured by HRW, a commander holds a man’s head and says: “She was a traitor, she was a traitor.”
According to the HRW report, Afghan military officials in Helmand told the organisation that 98 out of 140 members of the Helmand district security force committed desertion and desertion-related offences after agreeing to surrender.
“In Helmand, when they say Taliban will burn their hands and feet or they will hang them, it’s not just warnings,” Babar Baloch, senior Afghanistan researcher at HRW, said. “They would also execute those who had deserted.”
The Taliban launched their latest offensive in Helmand in May, capturing the strategically important town of Musa Qala from the Afghan security forces and slowly chipping away at their grip on the rest of the province.
As the insurgency spread into Helmand from its traditional home in the southern province of Kandahar, the UK also decreased its troop levels, putting pressure on government forces there, already stretched by attempts to regain ground.
The report said Afghans in Helmand described being forced by Taliban forces to join the Taliban and paying a 100-rupee (about 25p) fine, that has frequently resulted in their death.
“It wasn’t the Taliban that had prisoners, it was the Afghan security forces,” said Mohammad Hassan, who has worked with the Afghan administration in Helmand for five years.
Sheikh Abdul Datta, the commander of the provincial police office in Sangin, said that in one case of desertion there were four men in chains hanging from a tree outside a local mosque. “When the Taliban heard they threw them to the ground and beat them,” Datta said.
While the Taliban does not claim responsibility for executing captured security forces, the HRW says in one case their executions were recorded on video.
The organisation said in addition to demanding payment of a fine and being forced to join their forces, the Taliban attacked soldiers and police by firing a rocket into the water below the bridge in Sangin. This destroyed a boat full of police and army members.
The footage obtained by HRW is titled: “Hanging in the Arkadchi lake” and the text accompanying it says: “The devils are hanging. This women tried to betray us, not far from here is the Arkadchi lake … the key is chained to her head … I don’t want to sacrifice anyone else, but this is my priority, hang her”.