Taliban kill Afghan resistance leader’s brother

Islamic militia Taliban shot dead an elder brother of Amrullah Saleh, Afghanistan’s first vice president and the leader of anti-Taliban fighters, and is even blocking his burial, as it continued merciless retaliation. On Friday, when memorial events on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks took place across the U.S., Taliban raised its own flag at the presidential palace in Kabul and made official the inauguration of its government.

According to the Reuters news agency on Saturday, Taliban occupied Panjshir province’s capital Bazarak, the last province holding out against Taliban, detected Amrullah’s elder brother Rohullah Azizi and executed him.

The killing was made public as Saleh’s nephew Ebadullah Saleh sent a text message to Reuters on Thursday, reading, "They executed my uncle. They killed him yesterday and would not let us bury him. They kept saying his body should rot.” German news outlet Deutsch Welle said, “There is a testimony that Azizi was caught by Taliban while trying to pass a checkpoint in a car, and was killed along with his driver.”

Vice President Amrullah Saleh, who declared himself as acting Afghan President on Aug. 15, founded the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan jointly with Ahmad Massoud, the son of the late Ahmad Sha Massoud, who is known as Afghanistan’s founder. NRF fought Taliban but lost in a battle. The Taliban have claimed that Vice President Saleh and Massoud escaped to Tajikistan and Turkey, respectively, declaring that the war in Afghanistan has ended.


Seong-Ho Hwang hsh0330@donga.com