Human rights group accuses Taliban of arbitrarily detaining nearly 2,000 people in Afghanistan

Taliban Movement has arbitrarily detained nearly 2,000 people in Afghanistan since it returned to power in August 2021, according to a report by a rights group.

The report stated that “among the detainees are mainly former government employees, female demonstrators, human rights defenders, civil society activists, journalists and religious scholars.”

The report was prepared by Rawadari, a newly formed human rights group whose executive director is Shahrzad Akbar, the former head of Afghanistan’s Independent Human Rights Commission.

For its part, Taliban authorities have not yet responded to the report, but the group has ignored similar reports issued by the United Nations, describing them as mere propaganda.