THE Taliban has tortured and threatened Afghans forcibly returned from Iran and Pakistan because of their identity or personal history, a United Nations report said today.

Pakistan and Iran are expelling millions of Afghans who they say are living in their countries illegally.

Afghan authorities have urged nationals to return, pledging amnesty for anyone who left after the Taliban seized power in 2021.

But rights groups and the UN have repeatedly warned that some of those returning are at risk of persecution because of their gender, profession or links to the former Western-backed administration.

Thursday’s report from the UN mission in Afghanistan said some people have experienced serious human rights violations, while others have gone into hiding or relocated for fear of Taliban reprisal.

The violations include torture, ill-treatment, arbitrary arrest and threats to personal security at the hands of the Taliban, according to the report.

A former government official told the UN mission that, after his return to Afghanistan in 2023, he was detained, severely tortured with sticks and cables, waterboarded and subjected to a mock execution.

UN high commissioner for human rights Volker Turk said nobody should be sent back to a country where they faced the risk of persecution on account of their identity or personal history.

This was even more pronounced for Afghan women and girls, he said, who were subjected to a range of measures “amounting to persecution based on their gender alone.”

The Taliban have imposed severe restrictions on Afghan girls and women, cutting off education beyond sixth grade, most employment and access to many public spaces.

Responding to the report, Taliban authorities denied mistreating Afghan returnees and rejected allegations of arrest, violence, intimidation or retaliation against people because of their identity or personal history.