Verifying Taliban violence

Since the Taliban takeover in August, there have been frequent videos posted on social media of the Taliban using violence against apparent civilians and protesters.

Besides incidents at female-led protests, the context for most of the violence is difficult to verify, but there have been a number of recorded attacks on apparent civilians that have circulated on social media in recent weeks and months.

The following is a selection of incidents verified by the Afghan Witness (AW) OSINT team:

● On the 8th November, a video posted on Twitter showed four alleged Taliban members chasing and beating a man in the 6th police district of Kabul. One news outlet claimed the man was the son of Ibrahim Achakzai, a member of the Taliban's Qatar political bureau, who was beaten by members of the Haqqani network. However, these claims are unconfirmed.

● On 26th October, images posted by Aamaj News on Twitter showed a Taliban member standing on a vehicle and appearing to hit a man. This footage was geolocated to the 2nd police district in Kabul. Eyewitness reports say the incident happened after a “Taliban vehicle collided with a taxi in Kart-e-Parwan, Kabul, a Taliban member climbed into a taxi and hit the driver out of an open window with a shotgun.”

• On 7th September, videos shared on Twitter by Afghan journalist, Bilal Sarwary, show Taliban members hitting several people - male and female - near Kadan University, though the context surrounding this incident remains unknown.

● On 18th August, a video posted on Twitter showed a man being beaten near Kabul airport, allegedly for seeking to leave the country.

There have been multiple other incidents of apparent excessive force used against civilians from around the country, which AW continues to log and verify where possible.