‘We will take revenge on your families’: Taliban threatens Afghan interpreters if they do not appear for trial

Ahmed Adel

After the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in mid-August, messages were sent to reassure the people about their living conditions, but as usual for the extremist movement, the promises were not fulfilled.

Summons and threats

In the same context, on Friday, October 1, the Taliban summoned Afghan interpreters who worked for the Netherlands to appear in court.

The extremist movement was not satisfied with that, but threatened to retaliate against their relatives in the event of their failure to attend, according to the official Dutch NOS channel. A message from the Taliban, presented by the mentioned channel, revealed the clear and explicit threat.

It pointed out that the translators went into hiding, but that their family members would be held responsible if they did not appear in court, “in order to inflict severe punishment on them so that the other traitors might learn a lesson.”

As for the person who received that message, according to the channel, he was working for Europol in Afghanistan, and he is accused of receiving money from foreigners.

As stated in another message received by a translator who was accused by the Taliban of being responsible for the killing of some of its members, “We will take revenge, and if we cannot catch you, we will settle the account with your relatives.”

Difficult situation

NOS also reported that all indications show that the letters bearing official seals were sent by the Taliban. It said it had contacted about ten translators or people who had previously worked with the Dutch, all of whom expressed that their situation was becoming increasingly difficult.

It is noteworthy that in June, the movement urged translators who worked with foreign forces to repent, but asked them to stay in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of foreign forces, stressing that they would not be harmed.

Immediately after assuming power, the Taliban also announced a general amnesty for Afghan government and military officials.

But despite its pledge not to retaliate, a classified United Nations report previously revealed the Taliban’s pursuit of people who worked with foreign forces.

The Taliban government has so far not succeeded in gaining international recognition, and its all-male government has faced Western criticism since the militant group took control of Afghanistan after the withdrawal of foreign forces.

In another context, the Independent reported that the United States spent billions of dollars on preparing, training and arming the security forces in Afghanistan, but despite that, there were destructive factors in return that led to the resounding defeat of the regular forces that surrendered due to accumulated corruption, logistical failure, and the state of loss in the country.

Slow and painful collapse

The report pointed out that the collapse of the Afghan regular forces was not surprising, as statements by members of the special forces and police forces in Afghanistan in the period from May to July said that this collapse was slow and painful and began several months before the fall of the capital Kabul.

Foreign Policy revealed that any Afghan who had previously cooperated with the US military needs to obtain special immigrant visas (SIV), as they hope to obtain this visa sooner or later to escape the revenge of the Taliban and the rest of the armed militias there.

Some US groups have had limited success helping Afghans and their families evacuate, while others are trying to help trapped Afghans find safe homes or send group chat alerts about Taliban raids in different parts of Kabul.

Foreign Policy stressed that the US government has not yet been able to accurately determine the number of SIV applicants out of the approximately 124,000 people who were successfully evacuated in the chaotic final weeks of the war, with tens, if not hundreds of thousands of Afghans and their extended families who may be eligible for such visas have been abandoned.

The report explained that abandoning hundreds of thousands is based on interviews with more than a dozen sources and experts, such as Afghans still in hiding, Biden administration officials, career diplomats, and congressional aides.