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Taliban has 'kill list’ for Afghan LGBT community: Report

WION Web Team
KabulUpdated: Nov 02, 2021, 10:38 PM IST

Photograph:(AFP)

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The Canadian NGO said at least 200 people from the community need to be immediately evacuated from Afghanistan. The charity group has reportedly evacuated at-risk LGBT Afghans.

According to reports, the Taliban has a "kill list" for the Afghan LGBT community. An NGO has reportedly said that the Taliban has been identifying LBTQI+ persons in the country.

Kimahli Powell from Rainbow Railroad, a Canadian NGO, told a French television channel that the Taliban allegedly kept a close eye on the evacuation process amid the US withdrawal in August and those who were left behind had their identities exposed.

The Canadian NGO was created to help LGBT people flee their country where they faced violence and it is currently focussed on Afghanistan.

The NGO said at least 200 people from the community need to be immediately evacuated from Afghanistan. The charity group has reportedly evacuated at-risk LGBT Afghans including 29 people last Friday.

The NGO alleged that the Taliban had carried out a raid on a house after they suspected the residents belonged to the LGBT community, they reportedly took their phone to identify them and then physically assaulted the individual. They also burned their passport, the NGO said.

Powell informed that the LGBT community has been left vulnerable since some Afghans have been reporting their presence to the Taliban in order to "curry favour" with them.

The NGO said the LGBT community has gone into hiding as they cannot depend on protection from their own family members while describing the current mission as "complicated" and "scary". 

(With inputs from Agencies)