Taliban leaders say the militant organization that once ruled Afghanistan with terror is trying to move away from its image of the past. It is an image that included beatings, kidnappings, rape, and mutilations. On Tuesday, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said, “We don’t want Afghanistan to be a battlefield anymore, from today onward, war is over.” But actions by its followers suggest otherwise. Members of the Taliban have been seen beating Afghans who are trying to gain access to the airport in Kabul. Los Angeles Times photojournalist Marcus Yam caught some of the brutal acts on camera.
https://twitter.com/yamphoto/status/1427704925379760134
"The violence was indiscriminate… I even watched one Taliban fighter, after firing some shots in the general direction of the crowd, smiling at another Taliban fighter. As if it were a game."
– Los Angeles Times photographer Marcus Yam on the scene near the Afghanistan airport pic.twitter.com/ip2ZGXNIw6
— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) August 18, 2021
NBC News reports:
Images of the Taliban cracking down on a protest and bloodied women and children beaten by fighters are contradicting the more moderate image the militant group has been trying to project as it tries to consolidate power in Afghanistan.
Less than 24 hours after the Taliban spokesperson delivered security guarantees during a press conference in Kabul, the militants on Wednesday tried to stop locals from installing Afghanistan’s national black, red and green flag in the eastern city of Jalalabad, according to local resident Anwar Khan.
DEVELOPING: Reports emerge of Taliban fighters beating women and children at a checkpoint in Kabul.
Taliban officials deny their fighters have been involved in this sort of violence, blaming the injuries on men impersonating the Taliban. https://t.co/34wsgqXPid
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) August 18, 2021
A team from CNN that includes reporter Clarissa Ward also caught the Taliban whipping people trying to make their way down the road to the airport and during one of her reports shots rang out.
“There are Taliban fighters all around. We actually did see them physically trying to get people back. We have seen them and heard them a lot, as well firing on the crowds to disperse the crowds. It’s a little difficult to see from this vantage point and it’s a slightly edgy situation so I don’t want to push our luck,”
Shots ring out behind @clarissaward – as she stands less than 200 yards from the entrance of the Kabul airport.
"It's definitely chaotic, she says. "It's definitely dangerous." pic.twitter.com/3iNgULO0fO
— Brianna Keilar (@brikeilarcnn) August 18, 2021
Gunshots rang out as thousands of Afghans crowded outside Kabul’s airport attempting to flee the country. The Taliban controlled the streets around the airport while the U.S. military had control inside. (This video includes scenes of graphic violence.) https://t.co/yyWYQzRY2o pic.twitter.com/LLiKRJtDFV
— The New York Times (@nytimes) August 18, 2021
And while the Taliban has promised “amnesty” for women and girls, there are already reports of violence against women. The New York Times reports:
Women in some provinces have been told not to leave home without a male relative escorting them. In Herat, in western Afghanistan, Taliban gunmen guarded the university’s gates and prevented female students and instructors from entering the campus on Tuesday, witnesses said.
There are also unconfirmed reports that the Taliban are going door to door to kidnap girls or women and use them as sex slaves or force them into marriage. The Los Angeles Times spoke with one woman, Tamana Bahar, who said she is living her life in fear.
After the Taliban swept through the capital, Bahar rushed home to find armed men filling her street, firing guns and tearing down pictures of women. On Tuesday, Bahar said they ruled the neighborhood and she feared they would soon start searching houses and seizing women for forced marriages or stoning them for minor offenses.
“I prefer to die than to go with them,” she said, but “all the government is in their hands, so how can I escape?”
I am deeply concerned by accounts of human rights violations against the women and girls of Afghanistan who fear a return to the darkest days.
They are looking to the international community for support.
We must not let them down.
— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) August 17, 2021
Watch more from ABC News above.