Reports of Taliban atrocities have spread across Afghanistan since the insurgents launched their final offensive.
Despite pledges to be magnanimous, the Taliban have been accused of beheading prisoners, gouging out eyes and executing hundreds. Fleeing civilians have brought tales of girls forced into marriage or kidnapped as sex slaves. Video on social media shows Islamists pumping machinegun rounds into the bodies of captured Afghan policemen.
Seeking international recognition for the new Islamic emirate, the Taliban sought to distance themselves from the brutal regime of the 1990s.
“The Islamic emirate of Afghanistan has announced a complete amnesty for all Afghanistan, especially those who were with the opposition or supported the occupiers for years,” said Enamullah Samangani, of the Taliban’s cultural commission.
His comments were the first
