‘GUNFIRE, WHIPS, STICKS’

Taliban Fighters Open Fire on First Street Protest Against Takeover

Shocking photos also showed women and children covered in blood at one Kabul checkpoint.

It’s taken the Taliban one day to abandon its promises not to rule Afghanistan with violence and suppression. Video from the northeastern city of Jalalabad on Tuesday showed fighters violently shutting down the first street protests against the Taliban takeover. The New York Times reported that Taliban soldiers fired into the crowd, and subjected protesters and reporters to beatings, after a Taliban flag was torn from a building. Hundreds of protesters also marched in the southeastern city of Khost. Meanwhile, The Guardian reports that women and children have been beaten as they attempted to pass through checkpoints set up by Taliban fighters after they seized Kabul. Photos posted on social media by Los Angeles Times reporter Marcus Yam showed women and children covered in blood, and Yam said he saw fighters using “gunfire, whips, sticks and sharp objects” to control the crowd. On Tuesday, the Taliban’s top spokesperson insisted that the group had no intention of exacting violent revenge on its opponents and vowed to respect women’s rights.