Taliban beheads 17 civilians in Afghanistan for attending party

Fifteen men and two women were beheaded for the “immoral” crime of dancing to music at a private party held in a house.

The massacre took place in Helmand in the south of Afghanistan on Sunday night, prompting an immediate investigation announced by Afghan president Hamid Karzai.

Helmund province governor Daud Ahmadi confirmed that the Talibans were responsible for the atrocities.

Beheadings and executions have been common before and after the NATO-led invasion of Afghanistan by the Talibans against civilians accused of spying for Western forces.

Last June, a hotel was attacked by Taliban fighters near Kabul, aimed at similar festivities and demanded to be taken to the “prostitutes and pimps” resulting in the killing of 20 people.

A group of investigators sent in by the Afghan government to investigate the beheadings that took place on Sunday are reportedly having problems reaching the area, as it is heavily controlled by the Taliban.

Despite gains in individual and women liberties since the removal of the Taliban government in 2001 by NATO forces, violence and repression have remained a reality for most Afghans, especially in the tribal regions outside of Kabul.

A tribal elder, Haji Musa Khan, from the region where the “mass killing”, as described by President Karzai, took place, declared that the region has seen a sharp increase in the last few months of similar violent attacks resulting in multiple deaths.

Philippe Labrecque