Former member of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) Sohail* was detained by members of the Taliban and tortured for three months after the group returned to power in Afghanistan.
During those months, Sohail said he was beaten by pipes, his genitals were given electric shocks, and his face was wrapped in wet clothes to make breathing difficult.
“Taliban forces torture parts of the body with pipes and electric wires that cannot be shown publicly. They would wet the clothes and put them on my head to make me suffocate and just before I pass out, they take them away from my head [to do it again],” he told Rukhshana Media.
“They would use electronic shocks from the toes to the private parts of men, and while torturing me, they would tell me, “Killing you Hazaras is permissible. And by killing you, we’ll go to Heaven.”
Sohail was only released after managing to pay his captors 40,000 afghanis (USD$550) and handing over a gun. He now lives in Iran. He fled Afghanistan in terror of being detained again.
۵۰۰۰ former ANSF call on US Congress to stop the torture
Sohail’s story is similar to those behind an open letter to the United States Congress to pressure the Taliban to release detained members of the Afghan National Security Forces.
The letter is signed by “۵۰۰۰ former military personnel of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan”, none of them named. It was issued to Congress on November 18 in cooperation with the Afghan women-led Purple Saturdays protest group.
“Despite their declaration of ‘general amnesty,’ the Taliban have detained, tortured, and killed hundreds of former security and defense forces who fought alongside the United States against them. This has forced thousands of former military personnel to seek refuge in countries like Iran, Pakistan and others,” the letter stated.
It said many former ANSF members are struggling to find work and this poses a serious risk.
“We are deeply concern (sic) about the fate of the former security and defense forces of Afghanistan, as they face uncertainty and pressure from regional governments, terrorist groups, and drug trafficking networks. This situation and the probability of hiring these forces into terrorist groups have the potential to turn them into a long-term threat to global security,” it further stated.
It also pointed to the Taliban maintaining ties with the Islamic terrorist group Al Qaeda and warns another major terror attack like 9/11 in the United States is a possibility.
“There is also evidence of the Taliban providing a safe haven for Al-Qaeda within their organizational structure. Additionally, the ISIS group has grown stronger under the Taliban’s power. Afghanistan has once again become the epicenter of international terrorism, raising the possibility of another 9/11-like event occurring anywhere in the world. This is a major concern for us.”
Sohail says he knows of former colleagues who have found work in the Taliban administration are facing constant harassment, but feel they have no other choice because they need the income.
“Last week, I spoke with one of my colleagues who joined the Taliban out of necessity,” Sohail said.
“He said that the Taliban forces look down on them badly and with an evil eye, and that when he leaves his house in the morning to do his duty, he has no hope of returning home.”
Masooma Ahmadi, a female member of the ANSF, told Rukhshana Media that most of the security forces were left on their own for the past two years, unlike the thousands of people trying to help civil rights activists, human rights defenders, journalists, and other vulnerable people.
“Even though the soldiers of the former Afghan government were on the front line of the fight against the Taliban for the past 20 years, they have not been paid the slightest attention and we are in the worst possible situation,” she said.
New political movement seeks Congress support to replace Taliban
The letter arrived in Congress days after former Lt. Gen. Sami Sadat appeared before a Congress subcommittee asking its support for a new political movement.
Mr Sadat was the last commanding general of the Afghan National Army Special Operations Core before Afghanistan collapsed in August 2021.
He used his November 14 appearance to call on Congress to help replace the Taliban.
“We’re not going to sit idle and let it happen. We are organising now to recover our country united under flag inclusive of women. We have set up a political movement Afghanistan United Front.”
Mr Sadat is chairman of the movement.
“We’re not asking for American boots on the ground, we’re asking for your moral and political support.”
“We need a little bit of help from your side. We need political support because we don’t have a government. And remember, when 9/11 happened you guys came to us, we helped you. We went to war not only against Al Qaeda but we went to war against every single individual, every single country that was at war with the United States.”
Like the open letter from the former ANSF members to Congress, Mr Sadat highlighted the Taliban’s ongoing relationship with Al Qaeda, saying that 16,000 Al Qaeda members were now training in Afghanistan.
He called on the people present at the hearing to remember the 200,000 Afghan troops who died fighting the Taliban, saying “It would be an insult to let their widows and children to be ruled” by the group.
“We are ready to partner again, we are ready for the great sacrifice. This is why we set up Afghanistan United Front. Young generals, young politicians, Afghan soldiers, Afghan civil society members to come together and craft a future for Afghanistan to free ourselves from this religious tyranny, from this terrorism,” Mr Sadat said.
“I know we cannot go back to change in the past what has happened, but we can change the future.”
‘Purple Saturdays’ back ANSF open letter and calls for new government
A group of protesting women who name themselves Purple Saturdays have backed the former ANSF open letter, using their platform to highlight it and recording themselves protesting indoors.
They support the letter, underlining where it talks about the losses women have faced under Taliban rule.
“Thousands of women have played vital roles in civil and military institutions, contributing to various sectors of society and envisioning a better Afghanistan. However, by returning Taliban to power the people of Afghanistan stripped off from their basic rights, especially women lost their rights and freedoms,” the letter stated.
In the protest on Saturday, members of the Purple Saturdays movement said that despite all its shortcomings, Afghanistan had been on the path of democracy over the course of the 20 years since the first Taliban regime was ousted.
Now they are facing a slow and “gradual death” under the Taliban rule, deprived of all their basic rights with any hopes for a future dying with each passing day.
The members of the movement called on the international community and the United States Congress and fellow Afghans to support a move to a democratic and decentralized system in the country in help end their suffering.
Some names have been changed for safety reasons
