Eliminating “Pernicious Individuals”: Civilian Victims of the Afghan Taliban’s Targeted Killing Program

Badalič, Vasja

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-12406-9_11

Cited by 1 publication

(2 citation statements)

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“…According to local and national news media, around four hundred and fifty people have been killed in targeted killings since 2018 (Khattak, 2022); however, the natives of North Waziristan report these figures to be around five hundred as they have been repeatedly echoed in numerous jirga (tribal council). 1 In the case of Afghanistan, the mirroring of the micro-dynamics of this particularized violence has been explained by Badalič (2019a), who has asserted that the Taliban targeted killing campaign was used as a tactic in Afghanistan to eliminate the civilians working for, or suspected of working for, the U.S. forces or the Afghan government. He identified two objectives of the targeted killing campaign in Afghanistan: firstly, they aim to undermine the Afghan people's confidence in the post-Taliban regime by fear and violence through targeted assassinations which allowed the Taliban to introduce their system of governance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the case of Afghanistan, the mirroring of the micro-dynamics of this particularized violence has been explained by Badalič (2019a), who has asserted that the Taliban targeted killing campaign was used as a tactic in Afghanistan to eliminate the civilians working for, or suspected of working for, the U.S. forces or the Afghan government. He identified two objectives of the targeted killing campaign in Afghanistan: firstly, they aim to undermine the Afghan people’s confidence in the post-Taliban regime by fear and violence through targeted assassinations which allowed the Taliban to introduce their system of governance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The violent construction of silence(s): The case of targeted killings in North Waziristan, Pakistan

Khan

2024

Violence: An International Journal

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The threat of recurrence of violence remains a protracted concern in post-conflict contexts. This article contributes to the literature on post-conflict violence by analyzing a specific phenomenon that has characterized North Waziristan: the “Taliban target killing campaign” of civilians. The article argues that the targeted killings in (post-conflict) North Waziristan are a pre-mediated and calculated strategy employed by the militants to create space for their resurgence by silencing dissent through extortion, threats and killing of the locals. Exploring post-conflict violence, the article draws attention to the application of de-securitization in North Waziristan where “silent institutional” de-securitizations (i.e., state silence) are adopted to maintain the post-conflict fragile peace to prevent the risk of slippage into re-securitization. In explicating this, the article contributes by identifying three forms of silences: (i) silencing (by killing), (ii) state silence, and (iii) strategic silence. Doing so also helps to elaborate the function, meaning, and consequence of silence(s) in post-conflict contexts.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%