US, UN outraged by public execution in Farah

KABUL (Pajhwok): The Biden administration has voiced concern over the public execution of a murder convict in Afghanistan by the caretaker government.

“We've seen despicable videos that have circulated online (in Afghanistan) in recent days,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters on Wednesday.

“This indicates to us that the Taliban seek a return to their regressive and abusive practices of the 1990s,” Price commented.

“It would be an affront to the dignity and the human rights of all Afghans,” he said, calling it a "clear failure by the Taliban to uphold their promises.”

The execution was announced just as the US pointman on Afghanistan, Thomas West, met in Abu Dhabi a Taliban delegation led by Defence Minister Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid.

West said he raised the “deteriorating human rights situation” including treatment of women and girls by the Taliban government.

“The country's economic and social stability and the Taliban's domestic and international legitimacy depend enormously on their treatment of Afghanistan's mothers and daughters,” West tweeted.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) also condemned the public execution of the alleged killer in Farah.

UNAMA tweeted: “The UN strongly opposes the death penalty in all circumstances, and calls on de facto authorities to establish immediate moratorium with a view to abolishing the death penalty.”

sa/mud