Danish Siddiqui was brutally murdered by Taliban, report claims

Pulitzer Prizewinning Indian photojournalist Danish Siddiqui was not simply killed in a crossfire nor was he a collateral damage rather he was brutally murdered by the Taliban Michael Rubin wrote in the Washington ExaminerLocal Afghan authorities say that Siddiqui had travelled with an Afghan National Army team to the Spin Boldak region to cover the clash between Afghan forces and the Taliban to control the lucrative border crossing with PakistanWhen they got to within onethird of a mile of the customs post a Taliban attack split the team with the commander and a few men separated from Siddiqui who remained with three other Afghan troops the report saidDuring this assault a shrapnel hit Siddiqui after which he and his team went to a local mosque where he received first aid As the word spread however that a journalist was in the mosque the Taliban attacked as per the reportThe local investigation suggests that the Taliban attacked the mosque only because of Siddiquis presence there it saidSiddiqui was alive when the Taliban captured him The Taliban verified Siddiquis identity and then executed him as well as those with him The commander and the remainder of his team died as they tried to rescue him the report saidWhile a widely circulated public photograph shows Siddiquis face as recognisable I reviewed other photographs and a video of Siddiquis body provided to me by a source in the Indian government that show the Taliban beat Siddiqui around the head and then riddled his body with bullets Rubin a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute wrote in the reportThe Talibans decision to hunt down execute Siddiqui and then mutilate his corpse shows that they do not respect the rules of war or conventions that govern the behaviour of the global community Rubin saidThere are many paralles between the Khmer Rouge and the Taliban Both infused radical ideology with racist animus The Taliban are always brutal but likely took their cruelty to a new level because Siddiqui was an Indian They also want to send a signal that Western journalists are not welcome in any Afghanistan they control and that they expect Taliban propaganda to be accepted as truthIn effect Siddiquis murder appears to show that the Taliban have concluded that their pre911 mistake was not that they were cruel and autocratic but rather that they were not violent or totalitarian enough Rubin wrote in the reportThe real question for journalists is why the State Department continues to pretend that Siddiquis death was just a tragic accidentRubin said the Joe Biden administrations decision to uphold the USTaliban agreement even though the Taliban have not and to withdraw completely is condemning Afghanistan to a bloodbathIt threatens to destabilise the broader region But rather than confront reality the Biden administration appears intent to whitewash Taliban crimes To acknowledge the fact that the Taliban executed Siddiqui and that the photographers death was not a tragic accident would contradict the White House spin Rubin saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever