KABUL, Afghanistan — Taliban fighters on Friday assassinated the Afghanistan federal government’s leading media and details officer in the capital Kabul, an act condemned by the senior U.S. diplomat in the nation as an affront to human rights and totally free speech.
The Taliban declared obligation for killing Dawa Khan Menapal, head of the Government Media and Information Centre (GMIC).
An authorities in the federal interior ministry stated that “the savage terrorists killed” him throughout Friday prayers.
“He (Menapal) was a young man who stood like a mountain in the face of enemy propaganda, and who was always a major supporter of the (Afghan) regime,” stated Mirwais Stanikzai, a representative of the interior ministry.
Menapal had actually likewise functioned as a representative in Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s outreach group.
Download the NBC News app for breaking news and politics
The assassination was the most recent in a series carried out by the hardline Islamist group to compromise Ghani’s democratically chosen, western-backed routine.
Scores of social activists, reporters, bureaucrats, judges and public figures who were combating to sustain a liberal Islamic routine have actually been eliminated by Taliban fighters in a quote to silence voices of dissent in the war-torn nation.
A Taliban representative stated Menapal was “killed in a special attack by the Mujahideen (Taliban fighters) and was punished for his actions.”
In a tweet, U.S. Charge d’Affaires Ross Wilson stated he was saddened and disgusted by the killing of Menapal, who he called a pal and associate whose profession was concentrated on supplying honest details to all Afghans.
“These murders are an affront to Afghans’ human rights & freedom of speech, ” he stated.
On Tuesday, the district guv of Sayed Abad district in Maidan Wardak province was likewise assassinated in Kabul by Taliban fighters.
