Taliban revenge fears grow in Afghanistan

KABUL: The Taliban are going house-to-house searching for opponents and their families, according to an intelligence document for the United Nations that deepened fears on Friday (Aug 20) that Afghanistan's new rulers were reneging on pledges of tolerance.

After routing government forces and taking over Kabul on Sunday to end two decades of war, the hardline Islamist movement's leaders have repeatedly vowed a complete amnesty as part of a well-crafted PR blitz.

Women have also been assured their rights will be respected, and that the Taliban will be "positively different" from their brutal 1996-2001 rule.

But with thousands of people still trying to flee the capital aboard evacuation flights, the report for the UN confirmed the fears of many.

The Taliban have been conducting "targeted door-to-door visits" of people who worked with US and NATO forces, according to a confidential document by the UN's threat assessment consultants seen by AFP.

The report, written by the Norwegian Center for Global Analyses, said militants were also screening people on the way to Kabul airport.

"They are targeting the families of those who refuse to give themselves up, and prosecuting and punishing their families 'according to Sharia law'," Christian Nellemann, the group's executive director, told AFP.

"We expect both individuals previously working with NATO/US forces and their allies, alongside with their family members to be exposed to torture and executions."

'LIVES UNDER THREAT'

The Taliban have denied such accusations in the past and have several times issued statements saying fighters were barred from entering private homes.

They also insist women and journalists have nothing to fear under their new rule, although several media workers have reported being thrashed with sticks or whips when trying to record some of the chaos seen in Kabul in recent days.

During their first stint in power, women were excluded from public life and girls banned from school.

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