Afghanistan COI Repository

Thomson Reuters Foundation News, A year on, Afghans hide out fearing death by data, 8 August 2022

“A year after the Taliban takeover, thousands remain in hiding, fearful that biometric data can be used to track them. […] The 48-year-old, who asked that her last name not be used, knew only too well the danger she faced. The Taliban had previously bombed their vehicles; Sadaf was injured in two of those attacks and had lost several colleagues. "I didn't want anything to fall into the hands of the Taliban," she said by text message from an undisclosed location in Afghanistan. A week after the Taliban took over, men knocked on Sadaf's door and spent hours searching her home. They knew where she worked, and left with a warning that they were watching. The next day, Sadaf packed her belongings and fled, along with her children and husband, a carpenter. They have been in hiding ever since, lodging with relatives and friends, and never staying anywhere for more than two weeks.[…] Sadaf is among the tens of thousands of Afghans - including former government officials, judges, police and human rights activists - who remain in hiding one year on, fearful of being tracked with digital ID and data systems that the militants gained with regime change.

In the past year, human rights groups and the United Nations have documented the killing or enforced disappearance of hundreds of former members of the security forces, as well as journalists, judges, activists and LGBT+ people. A Taliban spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.”

 

Tolo News, Congress Wants Answers Over Biometric Systems Left in Kabul, 4 May 2022 [last edited 5 May 2022] “US Republican congress members are demanding answers from the Biden administration following a disclosure that biometric data abandoned by the United States during its hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan is being used by the Islamic Emirate to target American allies still stuck in the war-torn nation, a media report said. According to the report of the Washington Free Beacon, the congress members believe that the Islamic Emirate is using the data to target former security forces and local Afghan allies of US and NATO forces. However, the Ministry of Interior denied the report. Eight Republican members of the senate committee, led by Sen. Marsha Blackburn, are asking the State and Defense Departments to turn over information related to the evacuation of US troops in Afghanistan, the Washington Free Beacon said. “These systems, which were abandoned when the US military withdrew from Afghanistan, contained iris scans, fingerprints, photographs, occupational data, home addresses, and names of relatives,” the senators wrote, according to a copy of the letter obtained exclusively by the Washington Free Beacon. “The Taliban is using this personal information to increase targeted killings, torture, and forced disappearances of Afghans who helped the United States.” Earlier, the US Department of Defense in a letter said military hardware worth $7 billion was left behind by US troops. “The biometric system should not be provided to the neighboring countries or others. The government is responsible for maintaining the secret and

important national data,” said Hekmatullah Hekmat, a military veteran. “This can cause risks for the Afghanistan security system even for their (Islamic Emirate) government because if some of the groups under their command stand against them they could use the data against the Taliban,” said Asadullah Nadim, a military veteran. The Interior Ministry confirmed it has access to the biometric devices but denied it is using the information to target the former military and civilian personnel. “We have denied this claim many times--that the Islamic Emirate targets or threatens the former security forces through this. We deny it,” said Abul Nafay Takor, a spokesman for the Ministry of Interior. Earlier, Human Rights Watch in a report claimed the biometric data left by the foreign troops put the lives of many Afghans at risk, but the current Afghan government denied it.”

 

HRW, New Evidence that Biometric Data Systems Imperil Afghans; Taliban Now Control Systems with Sensitive Personal Information, 30 March 2022

“The Taliban control systems holding sensitive biometric data that Western donor governments left behind in Afghanistan in August 2021, putting thousands of Afghans at risk, Human Rights Watch said today. These digital identity and payroll systems contain Afghans’ personal and biometric data, including iris scans, fingerprints, photographs, occupation, home addresses, and names of relatives. The Taliban could use them to target perceived

[...] Afghanistan currently has no data protection law. Having such a law, even assuming it met international

standards, would not have guaranteed adequate data protection, but it could have helped to ensure better practices and to reduce the potential harm to those whose data has fallen into Taliban hands. Human Rights Watch interviewed 12 Afghans with expert knowledge of the country’s biometric systems, including 6 judges; 5 foreign privacy and human rights researchers documenting the potential impacts of the systems being accessed by the Taliban; 3 UN staff members working on Afghanistan; and 2 US military officers formerly based in Afghanistan. A former military commander still in Afghanistan said that Taliban detained him for 12 days in November and took his fingerprints and scanned his irises with a data-collection tool. “They told me they took my fingerprints to check if I was military and if they could confirm it, they would kill me,” he said. “I was very lucky that for some reason they did not get a match.” Human Rights Watch examined six systems built by private companies for or with the assistance of foreign governments and international institutions: Afghan National Biometric System, used to issue Afghan national identity cards, known as e-Tazkira; US Defense Department Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS), used to identify people whom the US believed might pose a security risk as well as those working for the US government; Afghan Automated Biometric Identification System (AABIS), used to identify criminals and Afghan army and police members; Ministry of Interior and Defense Afghan Personnel and Pay Systems (APPS) for the army and police, into which the AABIS was integrated in early 2021; Payroll system of the National Directorate of Security, the former state intelligence agency; and Payroll system of the Afghan Supreme Court. In late 2021, several privacy rights organizations and media outlets raised their concerns about the Taliban gaining access to some of these systems, particularly the APPS and ABIS systems. Concerns about Taliban access to the other systems has received little coverage. However, information that a former government adviser shared with Human Rights Watch suggests that the Taliban may not have access to APPS.”

 

ACLED, Regional Overview: South Asia and Afghanistan 26th February - 4th March 2022, 10 March 2022

“Violence targeting civilians also continued in Afghanistan last week. During search operations, Taliban forces reportedly detained and tortured seven civilians in Baghlan province, a former security officer in Helmand province, and the relatives of another former soldier in Daykundi province. The Taliban also reportedly tortured residents in Khost province under detention after they raised the tricolor Afghanistan national flag, which has become a symbol of anti-Taliban protests since the group seized governance (Baghi TV, 1 March 2022). In a separate development, engineers from the Ministry of Public Works and former judges held separate protests in Kabul demanding unpaid salaries last week. Demonstrating engineers also complain about the dismissal of large numbers of engineers since the Taliban came into power, while demonstrating former judges demand to be reinstated to their former positions. The Taliban dispersed the protest of former judges. This is the first time ACLED records a protest involving judges since August 2021.”

 

Freedom House, Freedom in the World 2022 - Afghanistan, 28 February 2022

“Are individuals free to express their personal views on political or other sensitive topics without fear of

surveillance or retribution? 1 / 4

Afghans cannot freely engage in private discussion without risking offline and online surveillance. Criticism of the new regime or its moral code are grounds for arrest, as are sympathetic statements towards the National Resistance Front (NRF), an armed group that has resisted Taliban rule in the Panjshir Valley. The Taliban also rely on individuals to inform them of neighbors’ activities. Taliban search mobile phones for social media comments criticizing the regime.

Score Change: The score declined from 2 to 1 because political discussion is more dangerous for Afghans under the

Taliban.”

 

Brookings (Afghanistan), The enduring risks posed by biometric identification systems 9 February 2022

“The risks posed by the collection and use of biometric data were disturbingly illustrated by the Taliban take-over of Afghanistan late last year, when anti-government forces seized power and inherited a powerful biometric identification system built by the U.S. military. The Handheld Interagency Identity Detection Equipment (HIIDES)

opponents, and Human Rights Watch research suggests that they may have already used the data in some cases.

 

system was designed as a way for U.S. forces to be able to easily identify individuals in the field and tell friend from foe. But in the hands of the Taliban, these systems risked revealing the identities of individuals who had worked with American forces, potentially exposing them to reprisal. An unshakeable identification risked becoming a mechanism for revenge, punishment, or exclusion.”

 

ICRC, Cyber-attack on ICRC: What we know, 21 January 2022

“The ICRC [International Committee of the Red Cross] determined on 18 January that servers hosting the personal information of more than 500,000 people receiving services from the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement were compromised in a sophisticated cyber security attack. We take this cyber-attack extremely seriously and have been working with our humanitarian partners around the world to understand the scope of the attack and take the appropriate measures to safeguard our data.”

 

HRW, “No Forgiveness for People Like You: Executions and Enforced Disappearances in Afghanistan under the Taliban”, 30 November 2021

“The Taliban, through their intelligence operations and access to employment records that the former government

left behind, have identified new targets for arrest and execution.”

“The Taliban leadership has directed members of surrendering ANSF units to register with them to receive a letter guaranteeing their safety. Under this amnesty program, individuals who have registered have been screened for ties to particular military, police, militia, and special forces units, or to commanders or former provincial authorities, in addition to being required to surrender weapons. However, the Taliban have used these screenings to detain and summarily execute or forcibly disappear individuals within days of their registration, leaving their bodies for their relatives or communities to find.”

“Many Afghans interviewed expressed fear that if they register with the Taliban to receive the amnesty letter, they might be identified or recognized and face violent retaliation. At the same time, the Taliban have also searched for and detained people who failed to register. Some former government and security force officials have relied on their personal connections to get letters from the Taliban via third persons. Others, including some former civil servants in key government posts, such as the judiciary, have been unaware that they could obtain this

“forgiveness” letter and have faced punishments—including beatings and detention—for not having done so. Even if aware of the letters, many have not been sure how to obtain them where the Taliban have not announced specific registration centers.”

 

France 24, Four Women Slain in Afghanistan after phone call ‘to join evacuation flight’, 6 November 2021 “Two suspects have been arrested after the four bodies were found at a house in the city, interior ministry spokesman Qari Sayed Khosti said.

The arrested people have admitted in initial interrogation that the women were invited to the house by them.

Further investigations are under way and the case has been referred to court,” he said.

Khosti did not identify the victims, but sources in Mazar-i-Sharif told AFP that one of the dead was a women’s rights activist and university lecturer, Frozan Safi.

Three sources in Mazar-i-Sharif told AFP that they had heard the women received a call that they thought was an invitation to join an evacuation flight and were picked up by a car, only to be found dead later. [...]

The source said that three weeks ago she had herself received a call from someone pretending to offer assistance in her efforts to get to safety abroad.

“He knew all information about me, asked me to send my documents, wanted me to fill a questionnaire, pretending to be an official of my office in charge of giving info to the US for my evacuation,” she said.”

 

The Guardian, Women’s rights activist shot dead in northern Afghanistan, 5 November 2021

“A 29-year-old activist and economics lecturer, Frozan Safi, has been shot and killed in northern Afghanistan, in what appears to be the first known death of a women’s rights defender since the Taliban swept to power almost three months ago.

Frozan Safi’s body was identified in a morgue in the city of Mazar-i-Sharif after she went missing on 20 October.

[...] Activists say they are being hunted down by the Taliban, who have perfected ways to infiltrate and intimidate

women’s groups.

Towards the end of last month, Frozan received a call from an anonymous number, telling her to gather proof of

her work as a rights defender and leave for a safe house.”

 

Foreign Policy, Afghan Crime Wave Adds to Taliban Dystopia, 29 October 2021

“Officials of the former government, intelligence service, and military have been snatched from their homes after

applying for passports and providing biometric and other identification information, he said.

The Taliban are also using lists of former officials and civil activists to pinpoint their children. “They took four such sons from a prominent school in Kabul. When the police station was asked, they said, ‘We don’t know who entered the school,’” the source said. “Life is broken.”’

 

Reuters, The Taliban vowed no revent. One Afghan family tells a different story, 28 September 2021

“When the Taliban won back control of the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar last month, they set out to settle a score with an old foe.

As they searched for prominent local politician Ajmal Omar - who had helped drive the militants out of a Nangarhar district a year earlier and tried to dissuade young Afghans from joining them - Taliban members detonated explosives at his ancestral home.”

 

UNAMA, Report of the Secretary-General: The situation in Afghanistan and its implications for international peace and security, 8 September 2021

“20. After seizing Kabul, Taliban fighters erected checkpoints throughout the capital and increased patrols, without uniforms. Reports also suggested that some people had been shot after having crossed checkpoints without approval. While statements by the Taliban included instructions not to enter anyone’s house without permission and that “life, property and honour” would be protected, numerous reports emerged of the Taliban conducting house-to-house searches for government personnel, weapons and property, and in some cases confiscation of the latter. Some reports indicated that the Taliban were allegedly searching for people who had “worked with foreigners” and at times, beating them.”

 

Danish Immigration Service, Afghanistan Recent developments in the security situation, impact on civilians and targeted individuals, 8 September 2021

“During the course of the Taliban offensive, as well as after the conquest of Kabul, there have been reports of the Taliban targeting members of the civilian population and the Afghan military as well their families. According to SER [Sune Engel Rasmussen, Danish journalist] members of Taliban have been going door to door and arresting or threatening family members of targeted individuals. He explained how members of the Taliban came to the house in Kabul of a colleague of his knocking on the door. Being a journalist, he was hiding inside his house with his family and the Taliban left. He had been warned over the telephone by his neighbour and he immediately thereafter moved to a hotel, knowing that the Taliban knew his address.”

 

The Guardian, The Taliban are showing us the dangers of personal data falling into the wrong hands, 7 September 2021

“The Taliban have openly talked about using US-made digital identity technology to hunt down Afghans who have worked with the international coalition – posing a huge threat to everyone recorded in the system. In addition, the extremists now also have access to – and control over – the digital identification systems and technologies built through international aid support.

These include the e-Tazkira, a biometric identity card used by Afghanistan’s National Statistics and Information Authority, which includes fingerprints, iris scans and a photograph, as well as voter registration databases. It also includes the Afghan personnel and pay system, used by the interior and defence ministries to pay the army and police.

For Afghans, and for the wider community working on digital identification for development, this means that the

Taliban have sensitive personal information that they have said will be used to target those they consider enemies or threats. While some Afghans are frantically trying to erase any trace of digital activity, on official databases, user deletion is not an option.”

 

The New Humanitarian, Biometric data and the Taliban: What are the risks?, 2 September 2021

“Data protection experts warn that aid groups must quickly review and safeguard sensitive information on Afghans who have received emergency relief and other services. Humanitarian agencies are among those that have tracked, stored, and shared data linked to millions of Afghans – including precise biometric data like fingerprints or iris scans. Crucially, some of this data has been collected by the now-deposed Afghan government – raising concern that the Taliban have inherited databases and technology that could be used to identify people linked to previous regimes or international forces, or members of persecuted groups who have received aid.”

 

OHCHR, Afghanistan: Taliban attempting to steadily erase women and girls from public life – UN experts, 17 January 2022

“Taliban leaders in Afghanistan are institutionalizing large scale and systematic gender-based discrimination and violence against women and girls, a group of UN human rights experts* said today. [...]

“We are also deeply troubled by the harsh manner with which the de facto authorities have responded to Afghan women and girls claiming their fundamental rights, with reports of peaceful protesters having been often beaten, ill-treated, threatened, and in confirmed instances detained arbitrarily,” the experts said.”

 

BBC News, Afghanistan: 'Terrified' British Council teachers still in hiding, 14 January 2022

“Afghans who were employed to spread British values and teach English in Helmand province have told the BBC

they are still in hiding from the Taliban and remain "terrified of reprisals".

Around 100 ex-British Council staff are still in Afghanistan having so far been denied the right to come to the UK. "We are all sitting inside, like in prison," one said, while another said they were now running out of money. [...] "Rahimallah", a man in his 20s whose real name we are not using, spent two years working for the British Council in "risky and dangerous" circumstances in Helmand, where British troops were based until 2014. [...]

"A relative of mine posted on Facebook against the Taliban, saying that they could not pay teachers' salaries," he says. "The next day, Taliban intelligence men abducted him, tortured him and killed him, and then threw his body in the Helmand River. Just for a Facebook post." He added: "I'm sure they will do the same with me."

 

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Gandhara, 'Tortured From Head To Toe': Taliban Accused Of Killing Afghan Man Over Critical Facebook Post, 3 December 2021

“Taliban fighters detained Naweed Azami after he made a Facebook post criticizing the militant group.

Three days after he was taken into custody, the 30-year-old’s body was found along a riverbank on the outskirts of the southern Afghan city of Lashkar Gah.

The Taliban claimed that Azami escaped detention. But his family has accused the militant group of torturing and killing him.

“My brother was tortured from head to toe,” Sharifullah Sharafat, Azami’s older brother, told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi. “There were torture marks everywhere on his body. The doctors at the local hospital have confirmed this. They took photos of his body and have video evidence.”

Azami appears to be the latest victim of the Taliban’s campaign of targeted killings in Afghanistan. Despite declaring a general amnesty after it seized power in August, the militant group has been accused of extrajudicially killing civilians and former members of the previous government and armed forces. [...]

Azami was detained in Lashkar Gah on November 25, just days after he criticized the Taliban on Facebook. In his post, Sharafat said, Azami questioned how the Taliban could keep its promise of paying teachers their salaries when the regime was “surviving on donated food.” Azami deleted the post before he was detained, Sharafat added.”

AVA Press, Taliban Must Be Accountable for the Targeted Killings of Civilians, 1 December 2021

“Helmand residences also report that a young man has been arrested and killed by Taliban forces for posting critical content on Facebook. The man has allegedly been assassinated after being beaten. The next day, with the help of Kuchis (nomads), they retrieved their son’s corpse from a sea in [sic]. Local Taliban officials confirmed the incident, promising the victim’s family that they would investigate how their son was killed. Gunmen also assassinated a employee in [sic], and no one has claimed responsibility for his death.”

 

AVA Press, A Young Boy Killed for Listening to Music in Badakhshan, 13 November 2021

“According to the sources, the Taliban first checked his cell phone, and when they found out that he was listening

to music they beat and shot him.”

 

The Guardian, They stayed to fight the Taliban. Now the protesters are being hunted down, 4 November 2021 "Women’s rights activists fear for their lives as Afghanistan’s new rulers infiltrate, detain, beat and torture groups of protesters"

 

Khaama Press, Taliban creates commission to expel unfavorable members, 13 October 2021

“Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has created a special commission to expel those who misuse the name of the

Taliban, do not treat people well, and have nasty backgrounds.

The commission which has been named “filtration commission of forces” is composed of representatives from the defense ministry, interior affairs ministry, and high directorate of intelligence and was officially announced on Wednesday, October 13.

Spokesperson on the ministry of interior affairs Saeed Khostai said that the commission will get functional in all provinces of the country and heads of the intelligence of the provinces will be leading the provincial offices of the commission.

Saeed Khostai though did not disclose details of the unfavorable people, said that these are some people who stand against the government and Islamic system.

The IEA created the commission after gunmen started entering the houses of people pretending to be the Taliban fighters.

Earlier, it was said the IEA will also send back to provinces the Taliban fighters who are not trained enough to deal

with people of Kabul especially the women.”

 

BBC News, Afghanistan: social media users delete profiles over fear of attack, 28 September 2021

“Since 15 August, Afghans have been deleting photos and tweets from their past - and many have turned away

from social media altogether for fear of being targeted by Taliban forces.”

 

Wall Street Journal, Killings of Islamic State Militants Highlight Power Struggle With Afghanistan’s Taliban, 26 September 2021

“While offering an amnesty to security officers of the former Afghan republic, the Taliban have shown no mercy to Islamic State, killing one of the group’s main leaders in a Kabul prison hours after seizing the Afghan capital.”

 

Amnesty International, Afghanistan: The fate of thousands hanging in the balance, 21 September 2021

“In this report, Amnesty International, International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation against Torture (OMCT) have documented incidents of human rights violations that have taken place in Afghanistan since the takeover by the Taliban on 15 August”. The report references a number of sources, including: [...]

• 5 September 2021. 7:04 PM. https://twitter.com/adityarajkaul/status/1434510349609299971?lang=en. 22 Alex Horton and Ezzatullah Mehrdad. The Washington Post. 28 july 2021. “After ‘comedian’ is killed by Taliban, videos of his treatment spark outrage across Afghanistan”. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/07/28/nazar-khasha-afghanistan-comedian/. ANI.

  “Popular Afghan comedian killed by gunmen, family blames Taliban”. https://www.aninews.in/news/world/asia/popular-afghan-comedian-killed-by-gunmen-family- blamestaliban20210723165601/.

• Yogita Limaye. BBC. 1 September 2021. “Amid violent reprisals, Afghans fear the Taliban's 'amnesty' was empty”. https://www.bbc.com/news/worldasia-58395954

• Zarifa Ghafari. Al Jazeera. 16 September 2021. “The world should not yet engage with the new Taliban government”. https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2021/9/16/the-world-should-not-yet-engage-with- the-new-taliban-government [...]

  

• France 24. 5 September 2021. “Taliban fire into air, use tear gas to break up Afghan women’s protest in Kabul”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBep8nD7NCQ. Tweet. Farhan Amiri Official هزات یاه بر خ@

• FarhanAmiree. 4 September 2021. 6:06 PM.

  https://twitter.com/FarhanAmiree/status/1434133338122596357 [...]

• Reuters. 10 September 2021. 9 September 2021. “Afghanistan commercial flights resume as U.N. accuses Taliban of harassment”. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/taliban-interim-government-agrees- let-foreigners-leave-afghanistan-2021-09-09/. New York Times. “A Qatari jet carries more than 100

  foreigners from Kabul”. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/09/world/asia/taliban-americans- afghanistan.html. [...]

• Foreign Policy. 9 September 2021. “In Afghanistan, It’s Back to the Future—of Taliban Tyranny”.

  https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/09/09/talibanafghanistan-government-future-tyranny/ [...]

• UN. 10 September 2021. “Taliban response to protests increasingly violent, warns OHCHR”.

https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/09/1099552 [...]”

 

OHCHR, Press briefing notes on Afghanistan, 10 September 2021

“Peaceful protesters across various provinces in Afghanistan over the past four weeks have faced an increasingly violent response by the Taliban, including the use of live ammunition, batons and whips. On Wednesday, 8 September, the Taliban issued an instruction prohibiting unauthorized assemblies. Yesterday, Thursday, they ordered telecommunications companies to switch off internet on mobile phones in specific areas of Kabul.

[...] From 15 to 19 August, people gathered in Nangarhar and Kunar provinces to mark national flag-raising ceremonies. According to credible reports, during these three days when protests took place, the Taliban reportedly killed a man and a boy, and injured eight others, when firing in an apparent attempt to disperse the crowds. On Tuesday this week (7 September), during a protest in Herat, the Taliban reportedly shot and killed two men and wounded seven more. That same day in Kabul, credible reports indicate that the Taliban beat and detained protesters, including several women and up to 15 journalists.

On Wednesday, 8 September, reports emerged that as a largely female group of demonstrators gathered in the Dashti-Barchi area of Kabul, at least five journalists were arrested and two severely beaten for several hours. There were also reports that during a demonstration in Faizabad city in Badakhshan province held by several women, including activists and human rights defenders, the Taliban fired in the air and allegedly beat several of the protesters. A small group of women who had gathered to protest elsewhere in Kabul were violently dispersed, as the Taliban fired shots into the air over their heads. That same day, women were violently dispersed during protests in Kapisa and Takhar provinces, and several women’s rights activists in Kapisa were detained.”

 

Amnesty International, Afghanistan: Suppression of protests at odds with Taliban’s claims on human rights, 8 September 2021

“Responding to widespread reports that the Taliban are using unlawful force against peaceful protesters and journalists at gatherings across Afghanistan, including using gunfire to disperse crowds and cables to lash protesters, Samira Hamidi, Amnesty International’s South Asia Campaigner said [...]

According to media reports, peaceful protests in Kabul, Badakhshan and Herat over the past two days have been dispersed by Taliban fighters firing rifles into the air, while some female protesters have reportedly been lashed with cables.Amnesty International has independently verified videos of Taliban fighters firing guns into the air to disperse protests in Kabul, and also verified videos of violence against women protesters between 4 and 7 September in Kabul committed by the Taliban.

Journalists and cameramen from Afghan media outlets Ariana, Tolo and Etilaat-e- Roz have said that they were beaten up and detained by Taliban fighters while trying to cover protests, before having their equipment confiscated or their footage destroyed.”