National Resistance Front Condemns Taliban Treatment of Prisoners

The National Resistance Front of Afghanistan has said the Taliban’s treatment of prisoners of war and political detainees is “inhumane” and contrary to human rights standards.

In a statement issued on Sunday, 5 Mizan, the front condemned the treatment and called on international bodies to act to prevent the expansion of repression in Afghanistan.

The statement said: “The National Resistance Front of Afghanistan strongly condemns once again the inhumane treatment and violation of human rights standards by the terrorist Taliban group against prisoners of war and political detainees.”

The front also called on international human rights organisations and influential Islamic countries to prevent the further institutionalisation of a “culture of terror, repression and fear” in Afghanistan.

Abdullah Khanjani, head of the political office of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, had earlier said that in the past five years more than 1,000 members of the front had been martyred in fighting with the Taliban administration, and hundreds more were still in captivity. According to him, these people have been mistreated.

The criticism comes as the Taliban administration has previously published videos of detainees’ confessions and identified them as members of armed opposition fronts.

In spring this year, 11 people were arrested in the Yftal-e-Payin district of Badakhshan province on suspicion of being members of the “Homeland Soldiers Front,” and a video of their confessions was published. The front later said the detainees were innocent local residents.

Also yesterday, as the Afghanistan Freedom Front clashed with Taliban administration forces in the Kamdesh district of Nuristan province, the Taliban published a video claiming that more than 10 members of the front had been detained.

In videos related to the incident, the detainees say they were transferred from Iran to Pakistan and then entered Afghanistan, but surrendered on the second day of the fighting.

The Afghanistan Freedom Front has not yet commented on the matter.

The National Resistance Front and the Afghanistan Freedom Front are armed opposition groups to the Taliban administration that have been active in some provinces, including Badakhshan and Nuristan.