Prominent Afghan physician kidnapped, killed in northern metropolis

A distinguished physician was kidnapped and killed in northern Afghanistan, his household mentioned Friday.
Mohamed Nader Alemi was kidnapped two months in the past within the metropolis of Mazar-i-Sharif, and his kidnappers demanded a ransom for his launch, his son Roheen Alemi mentioned. The household finally paid them $350,000, after negotiating down their preliminary demand of greater than twice that, he mentioned.
Despite the fee, the abductors then killed Alemi, leaving his physique on the street, his son mentioned. They referred to as the household and advised them the place to search out it on Thursday, he mentioned.
“My father was badly tortured, there are signs of harm on his body,” Roheen Alemi mentioned.
Alemi, a psychiatrist, labored for the federal government’s provincial hospital in Mazar-i-Sharif. He additionally owned a personal clinic, mentioned to be town’s first non-public psychiatric clinic.

Under the earlier, U.S.-backed authorities, crime swelled, together with frequent kidnappings for ransom, which prompted a number of businessmen to flee Afghanistan. The abductions have continued for the reason that Taliban seized energy on Aug. 15, although with decrease frequency.
The Taliban Interior Ministry spokesman, Saeed Khosty, mentioned Taliban forces arrested eight suspected kidnappers who have been behind the abductions of three folks, together with Alemi, in Balkh Province, the place Mazar-i-Sharif is situated. He mentioned two of these kidnapped have been rescued however that Alemi was killed earlier than the rescue. Police have been trying to find two associates of the eight arrested males who have been believed to have killed the physician.
“The Islamic Emirate is committed to find and punish the perpetrators,” he mentioned, utilizing the Taliban identify for Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, the Taliban-run Finance Ministry introduced that each one authorities workers shall be paid a 3 months wage, which had been unpaid for the reason that Taliban takeover. The lack of pay for presidency employees has been one issue fueling a spike in poverty in Afghanistan amid a crumbling economic system.
U.S. particular consultant for Afghanistan, Thomas West, responded to an open letter despatched earlier this week by the Taliban international minister to the American Congress. In the letter, Amir Khan Muttaqi mentioned American sanctions on the Taliban are fueling the financial disaster and urged Congress to launch billions in Afghan belongings.
West mentioned in a sequence of tweets that the Taliban had been warned that non-humanitarian help to Afghanistan could be minimize off if the insurgents seized energy militarily slightly than reaching a negotiated settlement.
Legitimacy “must be earned” by establishing an inclusive authorities and respecting the rights of ladies and minorities, “together with equal entry to training and employment, he mentioned. West added that the U.S. is offering $474 million in humanitarian help to Afghanistan by means of U.N. businesses.