The Taliban is carrying out reprisal attacks against former soldiers and government workers, the UN has been told - as video emerged showing Islamist fighters forcing young men into car boots in the capital Kabul.
Michelle Bachelet, speaking at the Human Rights Council on Monday, said she has seen 'credible reports' that Taliban fighters are searching house-to-house to track down anyone who helped the former government or US.
'Officials who worked for previous administrations and their family members [are] being arbitrarily detained,' she said. 'In some cases, the officials were released, and in others, they were found dead.'
As she spoke, footage appeared online showing men - some of whom appear to be Taliban fighters - forcing at least four men into car boots.
Footage has emerged of men who appear to be Taliban fighters bundling other men into car boots in the Afghan capital of Kabul
According to Iran International correspondent Tajuden Soroush, the footage was filmed in the Salang Wat district of Kabul and the men are ethnic Panjshiris.
The Panjshiris have a long history of fighting against the Taliban, and are one of several Tajik minorities who are frequently persecuted by the group.
It is unclear exactly why these young men were being detained, but it comes just after the Taliban claimed to have conquered the Panjshir Valley - where an alliance of warlords was holding out against Islamist rule.
UN staffers have also reported increasing attacks and threats, she added, without providing specifics.
Ms Bachelet also highlighted 'deeply troubling information' about Taliban raids on offices of some advocacy groups.
'In contradiction to assurances that the Taliban would uphold women's rights, over the past three weeks women have instead been progressively excluded from the public sphere,' she told the 47-member council as it opened its autumn session.
She said girls aged over 12 have been barred from attending school in some places in Afghanistan, and Women's Affairs departments had been at times dismantled.
The Taliban has publicly insisted that its rule of Afghanistan will be more moderate than it was during the 1990s, when its brutal interpretation of Sharia law saw women stripped of their rights along with public floggings and executions.
