Thousands of Afghans have joined an online campaign to denounce the Taliban, posting accounts of brutal activity by the insurgents ahead of expected peace talks.
The United States is hoping to draw down its military involvement in Afghanistan and draw a close to its longest war after Washington signed a deal with the Taliban earlier this year.
Stalled talks between the insurgents and the Afghan government are expected to begin soon, and American soldiers are slated to leave by May 2021 in exchange for security guarantees.
But many Afghans fear that too many concessions have been granted to secure the participation of the Taliban. “Giving into terror and appeasing the Taliban is not the solution,” Aziz Hakimi, an Afghan journalist and civil rights activist wrote on Twitter. The online campaign has generated thousands of posts condemning human rights abuses committed by the insurgents, accompanied by a hashtag that translates as “do not redeem the Taliban”.
‘Forgetting their crimes’
Kabul-based Twitter user Ejaz Malikzada, 26, said the message had gained traction as Afghan social media users sought to remind foreign powers not to sacrifice achievements on human rights made in the last few decades. “By participating in this hashtag I want to tell those foreigners who insist on starting peace talks in Afghanistan, they have ignored or forgotten the crimes and violence committed by the Taliban against Afghan people,” he said.
Before they were deposed by U.S. forces in 2001, the Taliban governed Afghanistan with brutal suppression of anything they deemed contrary to their interpretation of Islamic sharia law.
Women were forced to wear burqas and banned from school, and men were required to grow beards. “As an Afghan woman, who was born in exile, raised and studied in wartime, I fear Taliban’s interpretation of Islam, particularly when it comes to women’s rights,” lawyer Fereshta Abbasi tweeted.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid dismissed the latest campaign as an attempt to derail the upcoming . The denunciations were “being promoted by superficial people who are ignorant and are against peace,” he said on Monday.
