Taliban becoming more defiant, embracing policies of the past: US envoy

It didn't end up well before & it will once again take the country on a perilous path," US special envoy Rina Amiri said in a tweet

Taliban are becoming more defiant in embracing the policies of the past, US special envoy Rina Amiri has said, condemning the reports of public flogging in eastern Logar province, amid the growing concern over the human rights situation in Afghanistan.

"This is both appalling and a dangerous sign that the Taliban are becoming more defiant in showing the world that they are embracing the policies of the past. It didn't end up well before & it will once again take the country on a perilous path," US envoy Amiri said in a tweet.

Media reports on Thursday said that three women and eleven men, who were charged with moral crimes were publicly flogged in Logar province.

"Fourteen people, including three women were lashed in the presence of scholars, authorities and people ... for different sins including adultery, robbery and other forms of corruption in a football stadium in Logar (province)," the Supreme Court said on Twitter, as quoted by Reuters.

Earlier this month, Taliban supreme leader Mawlawi Hebatullah Akhundzada ordered judges to fully implement Islamic law. Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said the command from Haibatullah Akhundzada came after the leader met with a group of judges.

A Taliban spokesperson said the order of the leader of the Islamic Emirate will be implemented throughout the country. "Those who are involved in murder, kidnapping and theft must be punished for their actions," Taliban spokesperson Yousef Ahmadi told TOLOnews.

The Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021 and imposed policies severely restricting basic rights--particularly those of women and girls, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).

The Taliban have dismissed all women from leadership posts in the civil service and prohibited girls in most provinces from attending secondary school. Taliban decrees prohibit women from traveling unless accompanied by a male relative and require women's faces be covered in public--including women TV newscasters.

The Taliban have censored broad, limiting critical reporting, and detained and beaten journalists.

According to rights groups, Taliban forces have carried out revenge killings and enforced disappearances of former government officials and security force personnel. They have summarily executed people deemed affiliated with the Islamic State.