Afghanistan: UN condemns Taliban’s brutal crackdown on protests

The UN has condemned the Taliban for what its “increasingly violent response” to dissent, weeks after the group’s rapid takeover of Afghanistan.

Taliban fighters killed four people during recent protests, the UN said.

Demonstrations have taken place across Afghanistan since the fall of Kabul on 15 August, demanding respect for women’s rights and greater freedoms.

Taliban fighters have used batons, whips, and live ammunition against protesters, the UN said in its report.

“We call on the Taliban to immediately cease the use of force towards, and the arbitrary detention of, those exercising their right to peaceful assembly and the journalists covering the protests,” a spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a press statement.