Taliban are going door-to-door forcibly ‘marrying’ girls as young as TWELVE
Advancing Taliban are going door-to-door and forcibly taking girls as young as TWELVE to be sex slave wives for their fighters as they sweep across Afghanistan
- Taliban has swept across Afghanistan, seizing vast swathes of territory along with nine provincial capitals
- Terrified locals say jihadist fighters have been beheading people and forcing women to marry their fighters
- Girls as young as 12 have been put on ‘marriage lists’ that village elders have been forced to compile
- Taliban are now threatening the city of Maza-i-Sharif, the largest in Afghanistan’s north, as President Ghani flew there on Wednesday to rally the troops and sacked his top general in hopes of reversing Islamist advance
Taliban fighters are going door-to-door and forcibly marrying girls as young as 12 and forcing them into sex slavery as they seize vast swathes of the Afghanistan from government forces.
Jihadist commanders have ordered imams in areas they have captured to bring them lists of unmarried women aged from 12 to 45 for their soldiers to marry because they view them as ‘qhanimat’ or ‘spoils of war’ – to be divided up among the victors.
Meanwhile terrified locals who fled the city of Kunduz – captured by the Taliban last week – have told of reprisal attacks carried out by jihadist fighters who hunted down anyone linked to the government and beheaded or executed them.
One female journalist described fleeing a city in northern Afghanistan – which she did not name – and going into hiding with her uncle for fear the Islamists would hunt her down and execute her.
The Taliban has now captured nine of Afghanistan’s 34 provincial capitals and placed most of the country’s largest cities under siege in a lighting-fast assault that has seen government forces largely capitulate.
Mazar-i-Sharif, the largest city in the country’s north, is next in the Taliban’s sights – with President Ghani flying there today to rally troops and confer with local warlords in the hopes of preventing a rout.
Hundreds of thousands of Afghanis have been displaced from their homes in recent weeks by fighting, with fears that could swell to millions if entire country falls (pictured)
Displaced Afghans head into Kabul from the northern provinces after leaving their homes behind
The fighting has sparked an internal refugee crisis, with many civilians fleeing Afghanistan’s regions to the capital Kabul (pictured) in the hopes of being protected from the Taliban
Displaced Afghans reach out for aid from a local Muslim organization at a makeshift IDP camp in Kabul,
Girls as young as 12 are being taken from their homes and forcibly married to Taliban fighters in areas of Afghanistan they now control (file image)
The Taliban has captured nine of Afghanistan’s 35 regional capitals in less than a week, with the cities of Pul-e Khumri and Faizabad in the country’s north falling into the Islamist’s hands overnight
Ghani met with Atta Mohammad Noor, Mazar’s strongman leader, and Abdul Rashid Dostum, a notorious anti-Taliban warlord who served in Soviet ranks, to plan the city’s defence after skirmishes on its outskirts on Tuesday.
The Afghan president also sacked his top commander, Gen. Wali Ahmadzai, and replaced him with Gen. Hibatullah Alizai after a series of battlefield defeats that has left the army stunned and bloodied.
While Ghani attempts to mount a defence against the Taliban, the war is already far too real for hundreds of thousands of Afghanis already forced to flee Taliban guns, bombs, and persecution.
One 22-year-old journalist, speaking to The Guardian anonymously for fear the Taliban will find her, said her life had been upturned in just a matter of days as fighters approached her home in the north of the country last week.
She described fleeing under the noses of Taliban fighters attacking the city – which she did not name – hiding underneath a chadari, or full Afghan burqa.
Accompanied by her uncle, the pair fled to his village but were soon informed that locals had tipped off the Taliban about her arrival – and that everybody would be slaughtered if fighters arrived and found her there.
The pair fled again, this time walking two hours on foot to an even-more remote location where she is now holed up.
She has had no contact with her parents since she fled, after all telephone lines in the city were cut.
She said: ‘I am so scared and I don’t know what will happen to me. Will I ever go home? Will I see my parents again? Where will I go? How will I survive?’
The Taliban has rapidly captured territory in Afghanistan, starting in April when Joe Biden said he would keep an promise made by Donald Trump to have all US forces out of the country by September 11.
The Afghan air force has been uploading videos showing attacks on Taliban fighters in an attempt to bolster morale and turn the tide of the war, with few battlefield victories to report
Footage taken by the beleaguered Afghan air force has been posted online, showing Taliban fighters being blown to bits in an attempt to boost morale among government troops
The flaming wreckage of a Taliban vehicle is seen in footage taken by the Afghan air force and posted online in an attempt to rally government forces that are otherwise being pushed back on all fronts
With US forces now all-but gone, the jiahdists have made rapid gains – sweeping through rural areas and overrunning poorly-defended government outposts.
President Ashraf Ghani initially played down the threat, saying he had deliberately withdrawn troops into cities which would be easier to defend.
But that tactic appears to have backfired, with nine regional capitals having fallen to the Islamists in less than a week and most large cities within the country besieged.
While the Taliban has been keen to present itself on the international stage as a legitimate government-in-waiting, claiming to have abandoned the radical practices of its past, those on the ground tell a very different story.
In areas that the Islamists have captured, women have been barred from going to school, working, or leaving their homes without a permit, activists have warned.
Last month, reports emerged that fighters had ordered imams and tribal elders to prepare lists of all women aged 15 to 45 who were unmarried or widowed so they could be married to their fighters.
Taliban fighters are pictured in the city of Farah, one of nine they have seized in less than a week as they push to retake the country
While the Taliban have portrayed themselves on the international stage as reformed moderates, those on the ground say fighters (pictured) are brutal extremists
But, writing for Bloomberg, columnist Ruth Pollard said that has now extended down to girls as young as 12.
‘Now the Taliban are going door-to-door in some areas, compiling lists of women and girls aged between 12 and 45 years for their fighters to forcibly marry,’ she wrote.
Taliban fighters are permitted to do this under their strict interpretation of Islam which views women as ‘kaniz’ or ‘commodities’, according Omar Sadr, professor of politics at the American University of Afghanistan.
That means, following a battle, women are treated as ‘qhanimat’ or ‘spoils of war’ to be divided up among the victors.
‘They don’t even have to marry them, it is a form of sex slavery,’ he said, adding that it also constitutes a form of ‘ethnic cleansing’ as other cultures are forcibly assimilated into the Taliban’s Pashtun group.
The Taliban flag is raised over the main square in Pul-e-Khumri, capital of Baghlan province, after the Islamists seized it from government forces late on Tuesday
A Taliban fighter poses with locals in Pul-e-Khumri after it became one of nine cities seized by the group so far
Taliban fighters patrol inside the city of Farah, capital of Farah province, after capturing the city earlier this week
Afghanis stand near a burnt car inside the city of Farah after it was destroyed in fighting with government forces
Burnt cars are left after fighting between Taliban and security personnel inside the city of Farah
