Taliban reportedly relying on outdated lists in search for civil servants, defence ministry personnel and employees of foreign companies

By Suddaf Chaudry | Telegraph

Taliban militants are reported to be relying on outdated lists in an ongoing door-to-door search for Afghans of interest, with fighters believed to be leaving a black mark on buildings that have been checked.

The group is searching and registering civil servants, defence ministry personnel and employees of foreign companies and organisations, but because the list its militants are using is old, they sometimes do not find the person they are looking for, according to local media reports. Other accounts show that Taliban members do not always get it wrong.

A driver for the US embassy told of how he received a knock about four days ago, and initially thought nothing of it. But Taliban militants then returned a day later and interrogated his wife, saying he was on a list.

"That's when I realised this is no longer a safe place to live," he said.

The Taliban do not yet seem to be detaining people, but the ongoing hunt is fuelling fear. Afghan staff working for international aid agencies say they are terrified of a knock at the door and have been moving locations to avoid being registered.

"Today some of my friends went to work at the court and the Taliban didn't let them into their offices. They showed their guns and said, 'You're not eligible to work in this government if you worked in the past one'," a women's rights activist in Kabul told the Associated Press.

Meanwhile, a journalist who worked for the BBC for many years is being actively targeted by the Taliban, campaigners trying to organise their safe evacuation have said.

The Afghan national, who has not been named for security reasons, is said to be trapped in Kabul. 

Jen Wilson, chief operating officer of Army Week Association in New York, said they are a "high-value target" for the Taliban and the group travelled to their home on Tuesday to kill them, but they had left.

As fear of reprisals increase, a Taliban official told Reuters that it would investigate such allegations by its members. 

The reports come following signs the Taliban may have committed atrocities in provinces outside Kabul.

On Friday, Amnesty International alleged that Taliban fighters killed nine ethnic Hazara men in Ghazni province last month.