UN experts: No sign of end to Taliban violence

Taliban insurgents show no sign of reducing the level of violence in Afghanistan to facilitate peace negotiations with the government, and appear to be trying to strengthen their military position as leverage, with the “unprecedented violence” of 2020 carrying into 2021, United Nation experts said in a new report circulated on Friday.

The panel of experts, in a 22-page report to the UN Security Council, said the Taliban are reported to be responsible for the great majority of assassinations that have become a feature of the violence in Afghanistan, targeting government officials, women, human rights defenders and journalists among others.

These attacks “appear to be undertaken with the objective of weakening the capacity of the government and intimidating civil society,” it said.

Separately, with its troop withdrawal well under way, the US on Friday announced more than $266 million in new humanitarian aid for Afghanistan as part of what it called an enduring US commitment to the war-torn country.