Afghan Taliban Minister orders combat against militant abuse-News

After the Taliban defeated the Western-backed Afghan government last month, the new defense minister of the Taliban condemned the misconduct of some commanders and fighters, saying that they would not tolerate abuse of power.

Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob said in an audio message that some “villains and notorious ex-soldiers” were allowed to join the Taliban forces, where they committed a series of violent abuses that sometimes occurred.

“We instruct you to exclude them from your team, otherwise severe action will be taken against you,” he said. “We don’t want such people to appear in our team.”

Information from one of the Taliban’s most senior ministers highlights the problems that new Afghan rulers sometimes encounter when transitioning from insurgency to peacetime government control of combat forces.

Some residents of Kabul complained about the abuse of Taliban militants, who appeared on the streets of the capital, usually from other regions and were not familiar with big cities.

There are also reports that despite the Taliban’s promise of amnesty, they still retaliate against former government members, the military or civil society activists.

“You all know that according to the amnesty announced by Afghanistan, no jihadist has the right to retaliate against anyone,” he said.

It is not clear what events he was referring to, nor what prompted this news to be posted on the Taliban’s Twitter account and widely shared on social media.

There are reports of tensions in the movement between tough battlefield commanders and political leaders who are more willing to seek compromises with governments outside of Afghanistan.