The Taliban have issued a new code of conduct ordering fighters to protect civilians — as long as they don’t side with the Afghan government or NATO coalition. If they do, the punishment is death.CAMPAIGN
The 69-page directive, obtained on Tuesday by reporters in southern Afghanistan, follows an acceleration in Taliban attacks on Afghan officials — a campaign that threatens the NATO goal of bolstering local government to help turn back the insurgents.
“The Taliban must treat civilians according to Islamic norms and morality to win over the hearts and minds of the people,” says the code, which the insurgents began distributing about a week ago.
On the other hand, the code makes clear that civilians who work with foreign troops or the Afghan government are fair game.
“They are supporters of the infidels” and can be killed, the code says.
The code updates a similar directive released a year ago that limited the use of suicide bombers and mandated that prisoners cannot be harmed or ransomed without the approval of a Taliban regional commander. NATO and Afghan officials criticized last year’s code as propaganda and said it did not reflect how the Taliban really fought.
Analysts familiar with the Taliban said last year’s code was more of a political statement than a military textbook, meant to counter the international coalition’s attempts at winning hearts and minds. The UN has reported about 70 percent of the civilian casualties are caused by the Taliban, mostly people being killed or wounded in suicide attacks and roadside bombs.
The new code confirms what is becoming increasingly apparent: The ranks of Afghanistan’s civil servants are under siege — roadside bombs are planted on their routes; ominous letters threaten their families; Taliban on motorbikes shoot them in the streets.
ATTACKS
An average of three government officials have been attacked or killed every month so far this year, according to a tally on police reports. Attacks have occurred in about a dozen of the 35 provinces. Many more incidents are believed to go unreported.
In one of the most dramatic attacks, gunmen assassinated the deputy mayor of Kandahar city in April as he knelt for evening prayers in a mosque in the south.
THREATS
Local officials get regular reminders that their jobs might cost them their lives.
Mohammad Rahim Amin, a local government chief in Baraki Barak district of Logar Province, said he received a telephone threat the other day.
“How are you, servant of infidels?” the caller asked him.
Amin, unruffled, turned the tables on the man on the other end of the line.
“I’m OK,” he replied. “How are you, killer of the Afghan nation?”
Amin has survived two Taliban ambushes and a roadside bomb that coalition forces safely defused.
“My family is all the time worrying about me,” Amin said. “Two months ago, we received a threat letter that said: ‘Don’t work with the government, otherwise your family will be destroyed.’”
‘CROSSING THE LINE’: China’s embassy in Seoul criticized US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson, asking if his ‘hostile’ remarks were authorized by Washington South Korea and the US are in talks over recent public remarks by the commander of US Forces Korea, Seoul’s presidential office said yesterday, after the comments drew sharp criticism from China. In a recent podcast interview, US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson described South Korea as “the dagger in the heart of Asia” from China’s east coast, prompting the Chinese embassy in Seoul to say that he had “truly crossed the line.” The interview came amid growing speculation that Washington might seek to expand the role of US Forces Korea in countering the growing regional influence of China, a key
Through the noise of rushing papers and whirring belts at a print factory in Kyoto, two creators watch their photo essay come to life in broadsheet form — part of an effort to win new audiences in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Despite the decline of the publishing industry, self-publication and handmade “zine” magazines are growing in popularity in Japan, reflecting the nation’s enduring love of paper in the digital era. While speaking to Agence France-Presse at the plant, his hands black with ink, one of the creators, Kazuma Obara, said: “I think [paper] is a medium that engages all five
Australian researchers have trained lab-grown brain cells on a silicon computer chip to play the 1990s shooter game Doom and said they are just scratching the surface of what the neurons could be capable of doing. It is the science-fiction work of biotech boffins at Cortical Labs, who researched and developed the technology that harnesses the workings of the brain’s networking system. Each so-called “biological computer” contains about 200,000 living human brain cells, grown from stem cells that were harvested from blood donations. Having mastered the simple computer game Pong, where a paddle is moved up and down to send a ball
France experienced its hottest spring on record, the French weather service said on Tuesday, after an exceptional early heat wave that also broke highs for the season in England and Wales. Meteo-France said the average nationwide temperature over March to May was 13.8°C — about 1.7°C above the norm, and surpassing records set in 2011 and 2020. “The warmest spring since records began in 1900,” it said in a bulletin. All three months were warmer than average, but the onset of an “unprecedented heatwave” late last month pushed the mercury to highs typically seen at the height of the summer. “Our country had never
RSS