KABUL, Afghanistan – A military prosecutor who thought law enforcement was the greatest honor, a doctor who inspired her family to study medicine, a journalist responsible for those in power and ‘ a human rights activist fighting poverty in her home province: all killed within a few weeks by unknown assailants in winter over Afghanistan.
Their deaths provide a glimpse into the targeted killings of community leaders and security forces who have not been on duty for months – the frequent echoes of explosions and gunfire that serve as a reminder to those in cities and towns across the country and especially in Kabul, the capital , that a generation of Afghans is being methodically cut down.
The Afghan Interior Ministry would not provide the exact number of assassinations recorded in Afghanistan last year, but The New York Times documented the deaths of at least 136 civilians and 168 members of the security forces in such killings, worse than almost any other years of the war. .
The killings are a worrying sign of how much remains uneasy as the U.S. military prepares to withdraw from Afghanistan after nearly two decades of fighting, fearing more violence and chaos will follow.
The timing makes most officials believe that the Taliban are using the assassinations in addition to their coordinated attacks on security posts and government-controlled territory to instill fear and increase the government’s desperation at the negotiating table.
But some officials believe that at least some of the killings have a different source: political factions outside the Taliban that are beginning to use chaos as a cover as the country begins to break down under pressure, establishing the scores in a disturbing pattern reminiscent of the disastrous civil war in Afghanistan. war a generation ago.
This new chapter of intimidation and violence first opened after the February 29 peace agreement between the Taliban and the United States, and was continued by the negotiations between Afghan and Taliban representatives in Qatar that were quiet last month. The next phase of talks, which will meet again on Tuesday, will focus on strengthening the agenda for the negotiations, with the ultimate goal of creating a political roadmap for a future government.
The purpose of these current killings seems to be to terrorize Afghan society in order to subject them to the conditions that emerge from the talks, whether it is a peace agreement or civil war.
In the first half of the year, the targeted killings were mostly confined to religious scientists and civilians in remote districts and provinces, according to The Times data. The pattern of bloodshed subsequently emerged in cities, leaving a trail of slain judges, prosecutors, civic activists and journalists.
Sometimes victims received threats to pressure them to stop working. another time, according to family members, there was no warning before they were killed. The Interior Ministry has advised news organizations to arm or better protect their staff or lock their doors. Several Afghan journalists fled the country, and local journalistic associations called on reporters to boycott government news for three days to protest the attacks, spurred on by the assassination of a radio station manager in Ghor province on New Year’s Day.
“When he told me about the threats a month before he died, I was worried, but he calmed me down and said, ‘I did not hurt anyone, why would anyone hurt me?’ “” Nargis Noorzai Faizan, the widow of Pamir Faizan, a military prosecutor who was shot dead by gunmen in Kabul on December 6, said. ‘I was a 4-year-old when my father was killed by mujahedeen insurgents. He was an officer in the army and thought he was not causing trouble to anyone, therefore he would not be targeted. He was killed. ”
“Now I’m thirty and have lost my husband to another uprising,” she added.
These targeted killings were carried out mainly in two ways: gunfire and homemade bombs, usually composed of plastic high explosives and powerful magnets, a government intelligence official recently told The Times. With the magnet, the attacker can easily and quickly attach the bomb to a car.
Abdul Qayoom, the brother of dr. Nazifa Ibrahimi, the acting head of the prison administration’s health department, who was killed along with four others by a bomb on their vehicle in Kabul on December 22, had warned his sister just weeks earlier. that safety in their environment is deteriorating.
“She said to me, ‘Brother, I’m the chief physician and I do not deal directly with patients, so no one will try to hurt me,’ ‘Qayoom said.’ She dedicated herself to she promised to serve her people and she kept her promise. “
Although no group won credit for the bombing that dr. Ibrahimi has not been killed, US and Afghan security officials say the Taliban has set up a network of third-party criminals to carry out assassinations across the country.
Ahmad Zia Saraj, head of Afghanistan’s national security directorate, recently told parliament that his agency had arrested 270 Taliban members who were part of a special unit called Obaida Karwan, which is linked to the killings.
For the Taliban, the purpose of these attacks is likely to be twofold: to undermine public confidence in the government and eliminate those who oppose the group’s interpretation of justice and virtues, especially as a rendition of their harsh Islamic government – known for human rights violations during its rule in the 1990s – returns to power after any peace agreement.
The group continues to deny allegations of involvement.
“Civilian employees of the government, civic institutions, civic organizations and civil society activists and independent people were never on our target list. “Our mujahideen are not involved in their killing,” said Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman. “We condemn these killings and reject any involvement in these killings.”
Despite the alleged role of the Taliban in many of the unclaimed attacks, some Afghans are pointing fingers at government-linked factions that could also benefit from the targeted killings, along with the Islamic State subsidiary operating in the country.
“Drug smugglers, land grabbers, corrupt officials and those opposed to government reform plans are also behind these attacks,” said Dawlat Waziri, a former Afghan general and military analyst. “They want the peace negotiations to collapse and even support a civil war, because the more chaos and war there is in this country, the more they will benefit.”
For now, the killings continue, with the Afghan government apparently unable to stop or delay it, despite repeated promises to hold those responsible accountable.
Rahmatullah Nikzad, a freelance journalist who worked for The Associated Press and Al Jazeera, was shot dead in Ghazni province on December 21, and Freshta Kohistani, a human rights activist shot with her brother on December 24, near her home. in Kapisa Province. Me. Kohistani recently posted on Facebook that security officials are ignoring the death threats she receives.
“She raised the issues of people,” said Rooyin Habibi, another of Ms. Kohistani’s brothers, said. “She fought for the rights of her people and wanted a better future for Afghanistan.”
This kind of violence is reminiscent of the killings and disappearances of Afghans who worked in Peshawar, Pakistan, in the late 1980s and early 1990s when Afghanistan fell across the border in a civil war. Women, intellectuals and political and religious figures, many of whom were opposed to the policies of the Islamic insurgent groups that came to power after the 1989 defeat of the Soviets, were detained or killed. And the kidnappings and killings of thousands who had spoken out against Afghanistan’s communist regime in previous years were well documented.
Shaharzad Akbar, chairman of the Independent Human Rights Commission in Afghanistan, fears today – apart from being killed – that these deaths will become a white noise for the international community, more than they already have. According to Afghanistan, Afghan lives do not seem to be much appreciated.
“We’re dying, there’s a tweet, and people are going on,” she said. Akbar said. “The only tangible thing that happened to Afghans in the peace process is that they used to know who their killers were, and not now.”
Fahim Abed reports from Kabul, and Thomas Gibbons-Neff from Geneva. Fatima Faizi and Najim Rahim contributed reports from Kabul.