(Last Updated On: December 25, 2020)
US Special Representative for National Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad has condemned the recent assassinations of public figures, and said such levels of violence “breed a climate of fear” and could drive more people away from their homeland.
Khalilzad’s statement came just hours after the latest in a string of targeted attacks, which claimed the life of Freshta Kohistani, a women’s rights activist, who was gunned down in Kapisa province on Thursday evening.
In a series of tweets overnight Friday, Khalilzad also reacted to the killing of Yousef Rasheed, the CEO for Afghanistan Free and Fair Election Foundation (FEFA).
(Last Updated On: December 25, 2020)
A Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, said Thursday night that the group had released 30 Afghan security force members in the Panjwai district of Kandahar province.
Ahmadi did not provide further details about the release of the hostages but in a video shared on social media it appeared the decision was based on an order by the group’s leaders.
An unidentified Taliban member, who filmed the short clip of the hostages, said: “These 30 people are national police, border and local police. Today, based on the Taliban leaders’ kindness order… they were released in Panjwai district and sent to their families.”
Prominent Afghan Women s Rights Activist Assassinated
December 24, 2020
share
Print
Prominent Afghan women’s rights activist Freshta Kohistani has been assassinated in a village in the Kapisa Province northeast of Kabul, Afghanistan s Interior Ministry said on December 24.
The killing of Kohistani was the latest in a string of targeted killings that have prompted international concern.
“At around 5:00pm today, unidentified gunmen riding on a motorcycle martyred Freshta Kohistani in the Hes-e-Awal area of the Kohistan district of Kapisa. Her brother was wounded in the attack, [and] the intelligence units have launched an investigation into the attack,” Tariq Arian, a spokesman for the ministry, said in a statement.
Taliban Must be Held Responsible for Killings : Zuhair
The Taliban, merely by denying their involvement in the recent targeted killings, must not be absolved from such acts, said Tahir Zuhair, the Afghan acting minister of Information and Culture.
Zuhair said that the continued targeted killings of Afghan journalists is severely impacting the status of press freedom in Afghanistan, and he called on the Ministry of Interior to define a new security strategy to help ensure security and safety for media workers and journalists.
“Whether the Taliban accepts it or not, they are responsible for all such acts of violence that happen in Afghanistan,” said Zuhair.
Afghan Women s Rights Activist Killed in Kapisa
Afghan women’s rights activist Freshta Kohistani was assassinated along with her brother by unknown gunmen in Dahno village of Hes-e-Awal in Kohistan district of Kapisa province, a security source told TOLOnews on Thursday.
The assassination comes a day after unknown gunmen killed Yousuf Rasheed, CEO of the Free and Fair Election Forum of Afghanistan (FEFA) in Kabul along with his driver in the early morning.
The Afghan Ministry of Interior in a statement confirmed the killing of Freshta Kohistani.
“At around 5:00pm today, unknown gunmen riding on a motorcycle martyred Freshta Kohistani in Hes-e-Awal area of Kohistan district of Kapisa, her brother was wounded in the attack, the intelligence units have launched an investigation into the attack,” said the MoI in a statement.