Taliban death squads hunt anti-terror units

Information left behind by the security services may be allowing the regime to find and kill agents they used to fear.

Taliban fighters on patrol in Kabul on Saturday. Picture: AFP

Taliban death squads have hunted down and killed at least four elite Afghan counter-terrorism agents in the past three weeks, in one case pulling out all the victim’s fingernails before shooting him.

All four men were members of Units 011 and 041, British- and American-trained units responsible for finding and interrogating Taliban, and based at the headquarters of the Afghan intelligence service, the National Directorate of Security.

The younger brother of one of those killed shook with fear as he told of his own dramatic escape when Taliban fighters came for them at their home on the outskirts of Kabul last month.

“They came to our house and told us to follow them as they were doing some investigations,” said the father of two, who worked at Unit 011 doing reconnaissance while his elder brother was a recruiter. “We thought they were going to take our NDS vehicle.”

But about 3km from home, as they approached Zarawar Zahid Square following the Taliban Ranger, another Taliban vehicle drove alongside and began firing. “My brother was shot three times in the head and once in the chest, and I was shot twice in the left shoulder and arm,” he said, showing his wounds.

The Taliban fighters drove away at speed, presuming they were both dead.

“I managed to drive to relatives and they took me to hospital,” he said. “I don’t know how I survived,” he added, showing photographs on his phone of the HiLux vehicle, peppered with bullet holes across the windscreen and left side and blood-soaked seats as well as the bloody corpse of his brother, neither of which he wanted published for fear of identification. “My parents are so afraid, they will not let me out.”

Last week Taliban also came to his uncle’s house in Laghman, a province to the east of Kabul, and detained his sons, but he had already gone into hiding.

The Sunday Times has also learnt from a senior manager working at the NDS headquarters, who returned to work last week when called by the Taliban, that all the laptops and paperwork had gone from the offices — as well as money to pay last month’s wages. The man, a former interpreter for British forces in Helmand, showed an appreciation certificate for his work in Operation Herrick 9 in 2008 and an email approving him for evacuation, but said he had been unable to get through the airport in the chaos last month.

“I waited until 3.30am at the gate with my wife and four children, before deciding it was too dangerous and difficult,” he said.

He went back to work on Wednesday so as not to raise suspicion and also because he desperately needed money. The lock of the safe had been broken open and 90 million afghanis ($1.53m) for wages had disappeared, though he believes most was taken by a former commander amid chaos on the evening the Taliban took over.

He claimed that Taliban representatives are using the information they seized from NDS and calling those on the list, pretending to be British embassy officials to locate them. “I got an unidentified call on Monday in Dari (the Afghan language) saying they were from the embassy and checking my address and family members. I gave the details, then realised the embassy was closed. I emailed the embassy to check but a message came back saying this address no longer exists.”

Terrified, he fled into hiding, moving every couple of days and warning other former British interpreters to not hand over information.

The Taliban has promised amnesty to all those linked to the previous regime but there have been growing reports of its soldiers conducting door-to-door searches for targets anyway.

The past week saw violent repression of protests that many believe show the Taliban’s true face. Two Afghan journalists were beaten so savagely after covering a protest by women in Kabul that one thought he would die.

Ravina Shamdasani, of the UN Human Rights Office, said four deaths had been documented after the Taliban had used live ammunition, whips and batons to break up demonstrations. She added that her office had received reports of house-to-house searches, looking for those who participated in the protests.

The Sunday Times