UN sources have confirmed that the Taliban is carrying out "revenge attacks" against former soldiers and government employees, as a video surfaces showing fighters placing young men in car trunks, mimicking "mafia" methods, in the capital Kabul. Human Rights Council spokesperson Michelle Bachelet stated on Monday that she has reviewed "reliable reports" indicating that Taliban fighters are searching house-by-house to track down anyone who worked in the previous government or with the United States. Bachelet added, "Officials who worked in previous administrations and their family members are being subjected to arbitrary detention... In some cases, officials were released, while in others, they were found dead."
Footage circulating online shows men, some of whom appear to be Taliban fighters, placing at least four men into the back of cars before transporting them to an unknown location. Some social media users compared the act of putting civilians into car trunks to the methods of the Italian mafia in the United States, known for moving bodies and individuals "set to be eliminated" in a similar fashion, as depicted in Hollywood films covering the Italian mafia in New York, New Jersey, and Chicago. According to journalists, the footage was taken in the Salang Wat area of Kabul, and the men captured are from the Panjshir Valley, which has a long history of fighting against the Taliban. These individuals are from one of the Tajik minorities that frequently face persecution from the militant group.
