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American citizens being ‘beaten throughout the night’ in Afghanistan by Taliban, says reporter

The militants are said to be going door-to-door allegedly capturing women and girls as young as 12 to be married off to their fighters

A news reporter revealed on Friday, August 20, that her Afghan sources had told her the situation on the ground is "rapidly deteriorating" and that some US citizens were being "beaten throughout the night" by the Taliban.

Reports of the extremist group unleashing brutality in Afghanistan after assuming full control of the country have emerged over the past few days. The militants are said to be going door-to-door allegedly capturing women and girls as young as 12 to be married off to their fighters. Taliban's longtime spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed on Tuesday, August 17, they would respect women's rights, forgive those who fought them, and ensure Afghanistan won't serve as a safe space for terrorists, but new reports suggest they've gone against their assurances.

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“A source tells me, ‘Situation [in Afghanistan] is rapidly deteriorating… We’ve had Americans get beaten throughout the night,'” Sasha Ingber, a reporter for Newsy, wrote on Twitter. “One of them, an American woman, was beaten ‘twice’ even though she was carrying a US passport.”

“Yesterday @PentagonPresSec said Americans are not being impeded as they travel to the Kabul airport, no Americans harmed. The Taliban agreed to let them evacuate,” she continued. “What I am hearing suggests otherwise. Americans have been injured and stopped from boarding planes.”

“I’m also told Taliban is targeting Afghans US worked with, ‘going door to door and executing anyone that has worked with the US,'” she reported. “That ‘Taliban are searching the cars at checkpoints to find out something related to the foreign countries specially the United States.’ Separate sources.”

“Chaos ‘at all gates’ in Kabul right now. Taliban gunfire, beating people,” Ingber later added. “I’m messaging with an interpreter who is there, trying to get into one of the gates. All gates are closed because the airfield is currently at max capacity, I am told.”

This comes after reports that the Taliban murdered a family member of a Deutsche Welle journalist on Thursday, August 19, and seriously injured another during a shooting as they tried to track down the journalist's whereabouts.

“The killing of a close relative of one of our editors by the Taliban yesterday is inconceivably tragic and testifies to the acute danger in which all our employees and their families in Afghanistan find themselves,” Deutsche Welle Director General Peter Limbourg said. “It is evident that the Taliban are already carrying out organized searches for journalists, both in Kabul and in the provinces. We are running out of time!”

The United States has sent thousands of troops and diplomatic reinforcements to Kabul airport in order to gain control of the situation and speed up visa processing for Afghan refugees. US commanders are reportedly negotiating with the Taliban on daily basis to ensure that evacuees are granted safe passage to the airfield. However, the fear and futility on the ground have cast a shroud of uncertainty over the rescue operation, the New York Times reported.

The newspaper also noted how thousands were waiting in fear outside airport gates, where Taliban fighters have attacked civilians and foreign nationals with sticks and rifle butts. Afghans held on to travel documents as they were camped outside Taliban checkpoints. Anxious crowds were pressed up against blast walls, per the Times, with women and children being handed over to soldiers on the other side. The Taliban have moved swiftly to solidify their position in Kabul, breaking protests with brutal force and hunting down its dissidents despite making promises of amnesty, per the newspaper.