Afghan refugees in Turkey warn Taliban’s moderate stance temporary

Afghan refugees who escaped from the Taliban to Turkey are warning that the group's moderate statements since seizing power mask radical intentions.

In a series of interviews conducted by Voice of America, the refugees said the group would likely prove itself to be more brutal than a previous generation of fighters in the country.

Nafisa Alwozai, a 40-year-old mother, was forced to act in accordance with Taliban regulations, quit school and stay home, eventually marrying a man heavily bearded.

“Back then, people welcomed them at first,” she said. “But eventually they showed us who they really were.”

Alowazi’s brother-in-law, Abdul, said women and girls face other dangers from the Taliban than they did during the 1990s.

“Now, they are looking for girls who are 16 or 17 years old to marry,” he said.

Abdul said the marriages were not romances but abductions. “Before, they didn’t do such things,” he said.

Ozbek, who has eight children, said he felt he had no choice but to flee Afghanistan, even though the road to Turkey was dangerous. He said smugglers in Turkey kidnapped him and his family for 47 days and he was arrested several times and tortured.

“(Turkish) security forces dug wire cutters into my arm and told me “Do you want to come to Turkey now?”” he said, pointing to red scars inside his elbows.

Ozbek said he received a text two days before the fall of Kabul containing a picture of a friend who worked for the Afghan military. He said he was told that the friend and about 30 other soldiers had been executed by the Taliban.