Human Rights Watch told Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Taliban in northern Afghanistan last month displaced families and robbed and burned homes as they allegedly retaliated against cooperating with the Kabul government, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday.

The group said the “revenge attacks” were carried out by insurgents who took part in a Taliban attack that ravaged areas around Afghanistan, roughly in Kunduz and other northern provinces.

“The Taliban leadership has the power to stop these abuses of its forces, but they have not shown that they are ready to do so,” Patricia Grossman, the organization’s associate director for Asia, said in a statement.

A Taliban spokesman did not immediately respond to the request for comment.

Last month, the Taliban posted an order on Twitter for “military officials” to guard public property and “behave well with the public.”

The Taliban launched an offensive, focusing on the north, as US-led foreign forces withdrew after two decades of war. U.S. troops left their main base, Bagram Airport, this week.

Human Rights Watch said it conducted telephone interviews earlier this month with residents displaced from Bagh-e Sherkat, about 600 families from the village of Kunduz province, some to Taloquan and others to Faizabad.

Relocated residents said that between June 21 and 25, Taliban fighters were given two hours to leave their homes and that the insurgents threatened to accuse the Afghan government of supporting them.

Taliban fighters then robbed and burned abandoned houses and shot and killed two civilians, displaced residents said.

“We helped the government and handed it over to the Taliban,” an unidentified 24-year-old woman said. “The Taliban have burned down our houses. We are afraid. Both sides are forcing us to help. We are poor people, we have no choice.”