The Taliban have committed hundreds of human rights breaches in Afghanistan since gaining power last year, according to the UN, including extrajudicial killings and torture.

"There is no doubt that our report's conclusions are quite serious," Markus Potzel, interim director of the United Nations mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), said at a news conference in Kabul.

Since ousting the previous Western-backed administration, the Taliban has repeatedly denied allegations of human rights violations, but a UNAMA report released on Wednesday documented many accounts.

Since August, it has recorded 160 allegations of extrajudicial executions, 56 incidences of torture and ill-treatment, and more than 170 arbitrary arrests and detentions of former government officials and members of the national security force.

Torture techniques most commonly used included kicking, punching, and slapping, as well as beatings with cables and pipes and the use of electric shock devices.

It documented over 200 incidences of brutal, inhumane, or degrading penalties, including beating shopkeepers for not attending mosque, as well as over 100 cases of excessive use of force.

Since the end of the conflict, security in the country has dramatically improved, with a significant decrease in civilian casualties.

However, the Taliban, who were known for their cruel reign of terror between 1996 and 2001, severely curtailed Afghans' liberties, notably those of women and girls.

UNAMA received 87 allegations of violence against women and girls, including murder, rape, suicide, forced marriages, child marriage, assault and battery, and two incidents of honor killings, none of which were reported to the legal court system.

Among the examples described were those of a couple who were stoned to death in public after being accused of having an affair.

According to Fiona Frazer, chief of the UN Human Rights Mission in Afghanistan, "impunity reigns" in Afghanistan, and claims may be underreported.

She stated that UNAMA was "especially worried" about the Taliban's religious police and intelligence service's involvement in abuses.

According to UNAMA, more than 700 civilians have been killed and at least 1,400 have been injured in strikes ascribed primarily to the local Islamic State branch, as well as unexploded explosives.

Zabiullah Mujahid, a senior government spokesman, dismissed the report.

"Arrests and killings are not permitted in the country. If someone arbitrarily murders or arrests, he is considered a criminal and will be prosecuted under Sharia law "He posted on Twitter.