The resurgent and regrouped Taliban are committing atrocities in Afghanistan’s Helmand province, according to a report based on eyewitness accounts published in the Washington Post on Monday. Pamela Constable writes from Kabul, “Clutching scarves nervously around their faces, the women whispered details of Taliban atrocities in their native Helmand province: a translator’s body found in a sack, carved into pieces; a police officer taken hostage, blinded and garroted with wire; a woman shot and hanged by the thumbs.” Ma Gul, an Afghan woman from Helmand, told the newspaper, “All our lives are in danger now. Our schools are shut, and anyone who works for the government is branded an infidel.”
A new report by Afghan and foreign officials confirms that insurgent and terrorist attacks nationwide have increased fourfold in the last year, reaching 600 in incidents per month in September and causing 3,700 deaths since January. In Helmand, where much of the worst fighting has taken place, thousands of people have fled their homes and contradictory signals are being received from elders and residents about how to restore peace.