The Taliban are going door-to-door to search for people who worked for NATO forces or the previous Afghan government, according to a report prepared for the United Nations.
The report by the RHIPTO Norwegian Center for Global Analyses was detailed in stories by multiple media outlets.
The militants are targeting "collaborators" and threatening their family members, the report claimed.
Christian Nellemann, who leads the group behind the report, told the BBC that those being hunted by the Taliban were in serious danger. He raised the possibility there could be mass executions.
"There are a high number of individuals that are currently being targeted by the Taliban and the threat is crystal clear," he said.
"It is in writing that, unless they give themselves in, the Taliban will arrest and prosecute, interrogate and punish family members on behalf of those individuals."
And Reuters quoted the report as saying: "Taliban are intensifying the hunt-down of all individuals and collaborators with the former regime, and if unsuccessful, target and arrest the families and punish them according to their own interpretation of Sharia law.
"Particularly at risk are individuals in central positions in military, police and investigative units."
The report comes after the Taliban offered a pledge of reconciliation and vowed no revenge against opponents.
AFP reported the Taliban, with a record of brutal human rights, made the announcements on Tuesday night as thousands of Afghans were attempting to flee the country.
However, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told foreign and local reporters "All those in the opposite side are pardoned from A to Z.
"We will not seek revenge."
According to AFP, Mujahid said the Taliban, infamous for death by stoning and its treatment of women, would be "positively different" this time around.
"If the question is based on ideology, and beliefs, there is no difference ... but if we calculate it based on experience, maturity, and insight, no doubt there are many differences," Mujahid told reporters.
A special session on Afghanistan is set for next week by the United Nations Human Rights Council to discuss "serious human rights concerns" under the Taliban.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.