AFGHANISTAN Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Head of state and government: Mohammad Ashraf Ghani The intensifying conflict resulted in widespread human rights violations and abuses. Thousands of civilians were killed, injured or displaced in the violence, while ongoing insecurity restricted access to education, health and other services. While armed insurgent groups were responsible for the majority of civilian casualties, progovernment forces also killed and injured civilians. Anti- and pro-government forces continued to use children as fighters. The number of people internally displaced stood at 1.4 million – more than double the number in 2013 – while approximately 2.6 million Afghan refugees lived outside the country, many in deplorable conditions. Violence against women and girls persisted, and there was a reported increase in armed groups publicly punishing women including through executions and lashings. State and non-state actors continued to threaten human rights defenders and impede them from carrying out their work and journalists encountered violence and censorship. The government continued to carry out executions, often after unfair trials. BACKGROUND In January, officials from Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the USA held talks on a roadmap for peace with the Taliban. However, at a conference in January in Doha, attended by 55 senior participants from a diverse international range of backgrounds, including the Taliban, a delegation of the Taliban’s political commission based in Doha reiterated that a formal peace process could start only after foreign troops had left the country. They also set out other preconditions including the removal of Taliban leaders’ names from the UN sanctions list. 58 In February, President Ghani appointed Mohammad Farid Hamidi, a prominent human rights lawyer, as Attorney General, and General Taj Mohammad Jahid as Minister of Interior Affairs. President Ghani opened a fund to support women survivors of gender-based violence, to which cabinet members contributed 15% of their February salary. In March, the UN Security Council renewed the mandate of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) for another year; the UN Secretary-General appointed Tadamichi Yamamoto as Special Representative of UNAMA. After years of peace negotiations between the government and the country’s second largest insurgent group Hezb-i-Islami, led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, on 29 September, President Ghani and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar signed a peace agreement granting Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and his fighters amnesty for alleged crimes under international law and permitting the release of certain Hezb-i-Islami prisoners. Political instability increased amid growing rifts in the Government of National Unity between supporters of President Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah. In October, an international aid donor conference was held by the EU to pledge aid to Afghanistan over the next four years. The international community pledged around US$15.2 billion to assist Afghanistan in areas including security and sustainable development. Shortly before the conference, the EU and Afghanistan signed a deal permitting the deportation of an unlimited number of failed Afghan asylum-seekers, despite the worsening security situation. There were serious concerns about a mounting financial crisis as the international presence within the country was diminished and unemployment rose. There was a rapid increase in September and October of Taliban attacks and attempts to capture large provinces and cities. In October, the Taliban captured Kunduz, during which the city power supply and water was cut; hospitals ran out of medication and Amnesty International Report 2016/17