So much for the moderate Taliban! Brother of Afghan translator who worked for US is sentenced to death for helping the 'infidel crusaders' by providing security to his brother
- The brother of an Afghan translator who worked for American forces during the war is being sentenced to death via multiple letters from the Taliban
- 'You have been accused of helping the Americans,' the first letter says. 'You are also accused of providing security to your brother, who has been an interpreter'
- In the third letter, which unlike the first two handwritten letters is typed, the man is ruled 'guilty in absentia' and sentenced to death for ignoring the previous letters, as well as 'servitude to the invading crusaders'
- 'These court decisions are final and you will not have the right to object,' the third letter says
- 'You chose this path for yourself and your death is eminent [sic], God willing'
- This death sentence appears to be the latest evidence contradicting Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Majahid that this is a more moderate Taliban The brother of an Afghan translator who worked for American forces during the war is being sentenced to death for helping provide security to his brother in yet another sign that the Taliban's new 'moderate' façade has already crumbled.
News of the letter emerges as Vice President Kamala Harris announced that now was not the time to analyze the withdrawal of the Biden administration from the war-torn country, but instead to focus on evacuation.
CNN confirmed the translator, who has not been named, worked with the US Army, and that his brother, also unnamed, had been sentenced to death.
The outlet obtained three letters the brother received within the last three months. The first letter is an order to appear at a court hearing.
'You have been accused of helping the Americans,' the first letter says. 'You are also accused of providing security to your brother, who has been an interpreter.'
The second letter is a notice of his failure to appear for the hearing.
The brother of an Afghan translator faces the death penalty for his brother's service to the country. Pictured is the first letter he received from the Taliban
The translation of the first hand written letter which accused him of helping the 'Infidel Crusader's'
Thousands of Afghans desperate to escape Taliban rule pleaded with troops to be allowed on planes out of the country after the militants used whips, sharp objects, and gunfire to bead back crowds outside Kabul's airport
In the third letter, which unlike the first two handwritten letters is typed, the man is ruled 'guilty in absentia' and sentenced to death for ignoring the previous letters, as well as 'servitude to the invading crusaders.'
'These court decisions are final and you will not have the right to object,' the third letter says. 'You chose this path for yourself and your death is eminent [sic], God willing.'
This death sentence appears to be the latest evidence contradicting Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Majahid that this is a more moderate Taliban.
'Nobody will be harmed in Afghanistan,' Mujahid said. 'Of course, there is a huge difference between us now and 20 years ago.'
It comes after images came out last week of alleged thieves being tarred and strapped to trucks, and reports of a journalist shot dead for raising a flag and of a woman killed for refusing to wear a burqa; burning down an amusement park; thousands of Afghans desperate to escape Taliban rule pleaded with troops to be allowed on planes out of the country.
It comes after the militants used whips, sharp objects, and gunfire to bead back crowds outside Kabul's airport; and evacuation flights out of Kabul taking off near-empty after the Taliban formed a ring of steel around the airport - blocking tens of thousands of desperate Afghans from entering as westerners said they are unable to get through the crush.
The second letter (above) and it's translation (below) is a notice of his failure to appear for the hearing
In the third letter, (above and translation below) which unlike the first two handwritten letters is typed, the man is ruled 'guilty in absentia' and sentenced to death for ignoring the previous letters, as well as 'servitude to the invading crusaders'
The Biden administration, who led the American charge to leave Afghanistan, has come under intense pressure to evacuate not only the Afghan Special Immigrant Visa applicants like the translator but other vulnerable Afghans who are fearing for their lives.
Last February, the Taliban signed the Doha Agreement in which President Trump had agreed to withdraw all but 2,500 troops from Afghanistan by the time he left office.
That highly-controversial deal, which was sealed via a 35-minute phone call with Trump at the White House, revolved around an agreement that remaining US soldiers would pull out once the Taliban agreed to both stop supporting terror groups and to ensure that Afghanistan is not used as a base for attacks on the West.
With its chaotic withdrawal, the US has kept its side of the bargain. But whether the former jihadi they've left in charge remains true to his word remains to be seen.
As the Taliban advanced rapidly across Afghanistan, undoing billions of dollars of work that was meant to build a new democracy, officials have repeatedly seized on the eradication of Al Qaeda in the country as justification for leaving.
Biden, in his speech to the nation last week, pointed to the May 1, 2021 U.S. withdrawal deadline that former President Donald Trump's administration negotiated with the Taliban – as well as the failure of U.S. trained Afghan forces to fight
'We went to Afghanistan almost 20 years ago with clear goals: get those who attacked us on September 11th, 2001, and make sure Al Qaeda could not use Afghanistan as a base from which to attack us again,' said Biden on Monday, after being forced to leave Camp David to address the crisis.
'We did that. We severely degraded Al Qaeda in Afghanistan.'
U.S. officials are engaged in cross-agency recriminations as they grapple with failures of intelligence, execution, and imagination that preceded the sudden collapse of Kabul and the chaotic evacuation underway.
Biden, in his speech to the nation last week, pointed to the May 1, 2021 U.S. withdrawal deadline that former President Donald Trump's administration negotiated with the Taliban – as well as the failure of U.S. trained Afghan forces to fight.
'Afghanistan political leaders gave up and fled the country. The Afghan military collapsed, sometimes without trying to fight,' Biden said. 'If anything, the developments of the past week reinforced that ending U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan now was the right decision.'
He stood by the determination to pull out as the 'right decision.'Diplomats have said they were relying on intelligence assessments that the collapse of Kabul was less than imminent – although the Intelligence Community briefed lawmakers in July about the 'accelerating' pace of Taliban gains.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley said at a Pentagon press conference late last month, even amid Taliban gains across provinces: 'And there is a range of possible outcomes in Afghanistan. … A negative outcome – a Taliban takeover of Afghanistan – is not a foregone conclusion.'
That estimation of the Afghan government's strength also influenced the White House position, as President Biden publicly announced a total withdrawal of U.S. forces by Sept. 11th, then moved up the date by weeks.
A White House official singled out Milley's public assessment, calling it 'utter bunk,' CNN reported.
'We have noted the troubling trend lines in Afghanistan for some time, with the Taliban at its strongest, militarily, since 2001. Strategically, a rapid Taliban takeover was always a possibility,' said a senior intelligence official Sunday.
Defense officials have said they prepared for worst-case scenarios, and have expressed frustration that State Department officials didn't speed evacuation actions.
Pentagon spokesman Adm. John Kirby, a former State Department spokesman under President Obama, said the administration did plan for Taliban gains.
He spoke to CNN Tuesday about the chaotic departure flights from Hamid Karzai airport that reportedly left eight people dead.
'Could we have predicted every single scenario and every single breach around the perimeter of the airport with only a couple of thousand troops on the ground?' Kirby said. 'Plans are terrific and we take them seriously, but they are not and never have been perfectly predictive.'
Former Donald Trump national security advisor John Bolton told the network Tuesday that both Trump and Biden made the strategic mistake of withdrawing from the 20-year war.
'It's been a catastrophe and I'm afraid it's going to get worse. I think Biden does bear primary responsibility for that although you see now fingers being pointed saying Trump didn't leave us with any plans. We'll have to see how that shakes out,' he said.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken testified in June that he didn't expect an 'immediate deterioration in the situation' as the U.S. undertook its drawdown.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken testified in June that he didn't expect an 'immediate deterioration in the situation' as the U.S. undertook its drawdown
'Whatever happens in Afghanistan, if there is a significant deterioration in security — that could well happen, we have discussed this before — I don't think it's going to be something that happens from a Friday to a Monday,' he said – although what ultimately unfolded was a sudden Taliban takeover in a matter of days.
A foreign policy ally said Biden's advisors would never have let him take off for Camp David last Friday, as the president did, had they anticipated the sudden collapse, the Washington Post reported.
Vice President Kamala Harris asserted Monday that the U.S. must maintain its focus on evacuating Americans and vulnerable Afghans and shouldn't get distracted by questions over what went wrong in the chaotic U.S. exit from Afghanistan.
Speaking at a news conference in Singapore, Harris repeatedly declined to engage when asked what she felt should have been done differently in the withdrawal.
'There's no question there will be and should be a robust analysis of what has happened, but right now there's no question that our focus has to be on evacuating American citizens, Afghans who worked with us and vulnerable Afghans, including women and children,' she said.
Speaking at a news conference in Singapore, Harris repeatedly declined to engage when asked what she felt should have been done differently in the withdrawal
- 'Nobody will be harmed in Afghanistan,' Mujahid said. 'Of course, there is a huge difference between us now and 20 years ago'
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