Thread by @babimarcolini

After the Taliban took control of Afghanistan last August, @aellick asked me: Could #OSINT play a role in monitoring human rights abuses across the country once the international media looked away? This is the result. THREAD: nyti.ms/38ULCX4

@aellick In the weeks that followed, one subject was recurring on social media: Former military and gov workers mysteriously killed or disappeared. Users like @bsarwary & @MajeedQarar tweeted about it. @HashteSubhDaily @aamajnews24 @Etilaatroz reported on it.
nyti.ms/38ULCX4

In some cases, Taliban fighters filmed the executions and posted them online. One video showed four officers covered in blood: It had been sent to their commander as a death threat. Were these isolated incidents, or was there a pattern? nyti.ms/38ULCX4

I looked for relatives & colleagues of victims. On WhatsApp, they described to me the circumstances of each death & sent photos of bodies covered in bruises, bullet holes in their heads. They were too graphic to publish, but helped me verify the cases. nyti.ms/38ULCX4

Each relative or friend would tell me about other cases in their village or province. Soon, sources were sending lists with dozens of names. With my limited language skills (aka Google Translate) and from abroad, it was impossible to verify all of them. nyti.ms/38ULCX4

Then @SanjarSohail and nine reporters in Afghanistan joined the effort. They verified each case individually, spoke to relatives, gathered documents, videos and photos. The list kept growing. nyti.ms/38ULCX4

I also sifted through data gathered by @amnesty and @hrw. Their reports helped fill in the gaps in provinces where I didn’t have sources or wasn’t lucky in verifying cases. nyti.ms/38ULCX4

I spoke to desperate relatives in hiding, fearful that the Taliban would come after them. They would send me documents proving that their loved ones had worked with the Americans, pictures of young Afghan soldiers standing next to foreign troops. nyti.ms/38ULCX4

Some had received amnesty letters from the Taliban. Then, they were summoned to a police station and never returned. Others just showed up dead one day. There were victims who were shot while driving, playing cricket or at home with family. nyti.ms/38ULCX4

They weren’t high ranking officials. The victims were just regular men and women, rank and file soldiers and government bureaucrats. @AStocktonFilms @jonah_kessel & @eholzknecht hung their pictures in a studio creating a memorial. nyti.ms/38ULCX4

We verified 490 cases in all but two provinces of Afghanistan. They happened in places like Baghlan, the homeland of many Afghan special forces, but also Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban. These killings crossed ethnic and political divisions. nyti.ms/3KQbjpB

The real number of victims may be much higher, though. Many relatives were too afraid to speak or were untraceable. This is not a comprehensive list, but the best we were able to gather and confirm. nyti.ms/3KQbjpB

Besides those already mentioned, I would like to thank @zachwlevitt @lourdesgnavarro @yarabayoumy and the brave Afghan journalists who reported on the ground. And especially, thanks to the relatives, witnesses and survivors who spoke up. nyti.ms/3KQbjpB