DOCSLIB.ORG

Report on Fact-Finding Mission to Afghanistan 1-29 November 1997

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Report on Fact-Finding Mission to Afghanistan 1-29 November 1997 Fact-finding mission to Afghanistan The Danish Immigration Service Ryesgade 53 DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø Phone: + 45 35 36 66 00 Website: www.udlst.dk E-mail: [email protected] Report on fact-finding mission to Afghanistan 1-29 November 1997 Contents Introduction..........................................................................................................................................6 Political developments in Afghanistan up to the time of the mission..........................................7 Terms of reference .......................................................................................................................9 1. The security situation in Afghanistan ............................................................................................15 A. Taliban-controlled territory ......................................................................................................15 1. Are the Taliban in full control of their territory, where applicable by way of allies, and what is its extent?................................................................................................................................15 2. Are people generally armed? .................................................................................................15 3. The mine hazard.....................................................................................................................16 4. Crime trends over the last year for more serious offences (such as murder, kidnapping, robbery and rape), and policing .................................................................................................18 5. General security picture over the last year.............................................................................20 6. Internally displaced persons (IDPs) .......................................................................................24 B. Northern Alliance-controlled territory......................................................................................25 1. Is the Alliance in full control of its territory, where applicable by way of allies, and what is its extent? ...................................................................................................................................25 2. Are people generally armed? .................................................................................................27 Fact-finding mission to Afghanistan 3. The mine hazard.....................................................................................................................27 4. Crime trends over the last year for more serious offences (such as murder, kidnapping, robbery and rape), and policing .................................................................................................27 5. General security picture over the last year.............................................................................27 6. Internally displaced persons (IDPs) .......................................................................................29 2. Military situation and other military matters .................................................................................30 A. Situation, control and front line ................................................................................................31 1. Just north of Kabul.................................................................................................................31 2. Around Mazar-i-Sharif...........................................................................................................32 3. West of Kabul towards the Bamian pass ...............................................................................33 4. East of Herat...........................................................................................................................33 5. In other conflict zones............................................................................................................34 B.Recruitment of soldiers by the warring parties ..........................................................................35 1. Taliban-controlled territory....................................................................................................35 2. Northern Alliance territory.....................................................................................................36 C. Position of prisoners of war (POWs) ........................................................................................37 1. Number and treatment of POWs held by the combatants......................................................37 2. Does the ICRC have access to POWs and are POWs exchanged?........................................37 3. Political and administrative situation.............................................................................................39 A. Taliban-controlled territory ......................................................................................................39 1. Political system ......................................................................................................................39 2. Administrative system............................................................................................................42 B. Northern Alliance territory........................................................................................................42 1. Political system ......................................................................................................................42 2. Administrative system............................................................................................................43 C. Allies..........................................................................................................................................44 1. Taliban allies..........................................................................................................................44 2. Alliance allies.........................................................................................................................44 4. Human rights problems in Afghanistan .........................................................................................45 2 Fact-finding mission to Afghanistan A. Extrajudicial executions, disappearances and detention, including politically motivated cases ........................................................................................................................................................46 1. Extrajudicial executions.........................................................................................................46 2. "Disappearances" ...................................................................................................................47 3. Detention................................................................................................................................48 B. Use of torture.............................................................................................................................49 1. Torture....................................................................................................................................49 2. Degrading treatment...............................................................................................................49 C. Application of Sharia law, including its procedural rules ........................................................50 1. Structure of courts..................................................................................................................50 2. Training and recruitment of judges........................................................................................51 3. Procedural rules......................................................................................................................52 4. Offences and penalties under Sharia law ...............................................................................52 5. Public executions and amputations of hands or feet..............................................................53 6. Legal system in Hazarajat......................................................................................................54 D. Freedom of movement...............................................................................................................55 E. Position of women .....................................................................................................................56 1. Schooling ...............................................................................................................................57 2. Dress code, restrictions on freedom of movement and penalties for infringements..............60 3. Position of educated women ..................................................................................................62 4. Participation in business and in social life generally .............................................................63 5. Penalties for women...............................................................................................................66 6. Position of women in Hazarajat.............................................................................................66 F. Religious matters .......................................................................................................................67 1. Shia Muslims .........................................................................................................................67
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Road to Afghanistan
    Introduction Hundreds of books—memoirs, histories, fiction, poetry, chronicles of military units, and journalistic essays—have been written about the Soviet war in Afghanistan. If the topic has not yet been entirely exhausted, it certainly has been very well documented. But what led up to the invasion? How was the decision to bring troops into Afghanistan made? What was the basis for the decision? Who opposed the intervention and who had the final word? And what kind of mystical country is this that lures, with an almost maniacal insistence, the most powerful world states into its snares? In the nineteenth and early twentieth century it was the British, in the 1980s it was the Soviet Union, and now America and its allies continue the legacy. Impoverished and incredibly backward Afghanistan, strange as it may seem, is not just a normal country. Due to its strategically important location in the center of Asia, the mountainous country has long been in the sights of more than its immediate neighbors. But woe to anyone who arrives there with weapon in hand, hoping for an easy gain—the barefoot and illiterate Afghans consistently bury the hopes of the strange foreign soldiers who arrive along with battalions of tanks and strategic bombers. To understand Afghanistan is to see into your own future. To comprehend what happened there, what happens there continually, is to avoid great tragedy. One of the critical moments in the modern history of Afghanistan is the period from April 27, 1978, when the “April Revolution” took place in Kabul and the leftist People’s Democratic Party seized control of the country, until December 27, 1979, when Soviet special forces, obeying their “international duty,” eliminated the ruling leader and installed 1 another leader of the same party in his place.
    [Show full text]
  • Blood-Stained Hands Past Atrocities in Kabul and Afghanistan’S Legacy of Impunity
    Blood-Stained Hands Past Atrocities in Kabul and Afghanistan’s Legacy of Impunity Human Rights Watch Copyright © 2005 by Human Rights Watch. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America ISBN: 1-56432-334-X Cover photos: A mujahedin fighter in Kabul, June 1992. © 1992 Ed Grazda Civilians fleeing a street battle in west Kabul, March 5, 1993. © 1993 Robert Nickelsberg Cover design by Rafael Jimenez Human Rights Watch 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th floor New York, NY 10118-3299 USA Tel: 1-(212) 290-4700, Fax: 1-(212) 736-1300 [email protected] 1630 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 500 Washington, DC 20009 USA Tel:1-(202) 612-4321, Fax:1-(202) 612-4333 [email protected] 2nd Floor, 2-12 Pentonville Road London N1 9HF, UK Tel: 44 20 7713 1995, Fax: 44 20 7713 1800 [email protected] Rue Van Campenhout 15, 1000 Brussels, Belgium Tel: 32 (2) 732-2009, Fax: 32 (2) 732-0471 [email protected] 9 rue Cornavin 1201 Geneva Tel: + 41 22 738 04 81, Fax: + 41 22 738 17 91 [email protected] Web Site Address: http://www.hrw.org Listserv address: To receive Human Rights Watch news releases by email, subscribe to the HRW news listserv of your choice by visiting http://hrw.org/act/subscribe- mlists/subscribe.htm Human Rights Watch is dedicated to protecting the human rights of people around the world. We stand with victims and activists to prevent discrimination, to uphold political freedom, to protect people from inhumane conduct in wartime, and to bring offenders to justice.
    [Show full text]
  • Thesoviet-Installed Government. 1980 the Main Afghan Mujahideen Groupings and Armed Tribalgroups Begin to Win Control of Pockets of Territoryinside Afghanistan
    AI Index: ASA 11/09/95 Afghanistan: International responsibility for human rights disaster Chronology 1973 President Mohammad Daoud assumes office after a military coup. December 1979 Soviet troops invade Afghanistan. Early 1980 Armed tribal groups begin a jihad against theSoviet-installed government. 1980 The main Afghan Mujahideen groupings and armed tribalgroups begin to win control of pockets of territoryinside Afghanistan. 1980 to 1989 Civil war in most parts of Afghanistan, excluding major cities, between armed Mujahideen groups and government forces. 1986 President Mohammad Najibullah takes office. February 1989 Soviet troops complete their withdrawal from Afghanistan. February 1989 to April 1992 Increasing armed conflict between governmentand opposition forces. April 1992 Under a UN peace plan, President Najibullah isreplaced by a four-member council of the ruling Watan (Homeland) party. Late April 1992 an interim government led by Professor Sebghatollah Mojaddedi takes power. June 1992 An interim government led by Borhanuddin Rabbaniassumes office; the Islamic State of Afghanistan is declared. December 1992 Borhanuddin Rabbani elected as President, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar as Prime Minister of the IslamicState of Afghanistan. 1992 to early 1995 Fighting spreads to all major cities, particularly Kabul, as two major alliances — Shura-e Nezar (Supervisory Council), an alliance including Jamiat-e Islami (Society ofIslam), and Shura-e Hamahangi (Supreme CoordinationCouncil), an alliance of the forces of General Dostum andGulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hezb-e Islami (Party of Islam) — compete for control of administrative centres. Late 1994 The Taleban emerge as a strong military force, capturing nine of Afghanistan's 30 provinces. Mid-1995 Efforts by the UN to set up a broad-based interim administration in Afghanistan have failed.
    [Show full text]
  • Afghanistan Assessment
    AFGHANISTAN COUNTRY ASSESSMENT October 2002 Country Information & Policy Unit IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY DIRECTORATE HOME OFFICE, UNITED KINGDOM Afghanistan October 2002 CONTENTS 1 Scope Of Document 1.1 - 1.4 2 Geography 2.1 - 2.5 General 2.1 Languages 2.2 - 2.5 3.Economy 3.1 - 3.5 4 History 4.1 - 4.74 1992-1994: Mujahidin Government 4.1 - 4.4 Emergence of the Taliban 4.5 - 4.8 February 1995-June 1996 4.9 - 4.10 September 1996-June 1997 4.10 - 4.18 August 1997-December 1999 4.19 - 4.33 January 2000 - December 2000 4.34 - 4.39 January 2001 - December 2001 4.40 - 4.58 January 2002 onwards 4.59 - 4.74 5.State Structures 5.1 - The Constitution 5.1 - 5.2 -Citizenship and Nationality 5.3 - 5.4 Political System 5.5 - 5.15 -Interim Administration 5.5 - 5.7 -The Emergency Loya Jirga 5.8 - 5.12 -1996 - 22 December 2001 5.13 - 5.15 Judiciary 5.16 - 5.20 -Current Position 5.16 - 5.18 -1996 - 22 December 2001 5.19 - 5.20 Legal Rights/Detention 5.21 - 5.28 -Current Situation 5.21 - 5.23 -1996 - 22 December 2001 5.24 - 5.26 -Death Penalty 5.27 - 5.28 Internal Security 5.29 - 5.50 -Current Situation 5.29 - 5.40 -1996 - 22 December 2001 5.41 - 5.47 -Religious Police 5.48 - 5.50 Prisons and Prison Conditions 5.51 - 5.62 -Current Situation 5.51 - 5.57 -1996 - 22 December 2001 5.58 - 5.62 Military Service 5.63 - 5.70 -22 December 2001 to date 5.63 - 5.66 -Pre 22 December 2001 5.67 - 5 70 Medical Services 5.71 - 5 77 Educational System 5.78 - 5.81 6.Human Rights 6.1 - 6 A Human Rights Issues 6.1 - Overview 6.1 - 6.14 -Current Situation 6.1 - 6.4 -Independent
    [Show full text]
  • Afghanistan Assessment
    AFGHANISTAN ASSESSMENT April 2000 Country Information and Policy Unit I SCOPE OF DOCUMENT 1.1 This assessment has been produced by the Country Information and Policy Unit, Immigration and Nationality Directorate, Home Office, from information obtained from a variety of sources. 1.2 The assessment has been prepared for background purposes for those involved in the asylum determination process. The information it contains is not exhaustive, nor is it intended to catalogue all human rights violations. It concentrates on the issues most commonly raised in asylum claims made in the United Kingdom. 1.3 The assessment is sourced throughout. It is intended to be used by caseworkers as a signpost to the source material, which has been made available to them. The vast majority of the source material is readily available in the public domain. 1.4 It is intended to revise the assessment on a six-monthly basis while the country remains within the top 35 asylum producing countries in the United Kingdom. 1.5 The assessment has been placed on the Internet (http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/ind/cipu1.htm). An electronic copy of the assessment has been made available to the following organizations: - Amnesty International UK - Immigration Advisory Service - Immigration Appellate Authority - Immigration Law Practitioners' Association - Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants - JUSTICE - Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture - Refugee Council - Refugee Legal Centre - UN High Commissioner for Refugees 1 CONTENTS I SCOPE OF DOCUMENT 1.1 - 1.5
    [Show full text]
  • Nostalgic Desire: the Restoration of Dar Ul- Aman Palace in Kabul, Afghanistan
    AUTHOR AUTHOR NOSTALGIC DESIRE: THE RESTORATION OF DAR UL- AMAN PALACE IN KABUL, AFGHANISTAN I feel sure that 100 years hence a monument will be erected at Kabul, the capital, to King Amanullah, to commemorate his patriotism and great reforms, for which my countrymen were, perhaps, at the time of their introduction, not quite prepared.1 — SIRDAR MUHAMMAD YUNUS KHAN, THE FOREMER CHARGÉ D'AFFAIRES OF THE AFGHAN LEGATION IN LONDON, OFFERED THE PREDICTION ABOVE IN 1930 FOLLOWING THE DEPOSITION OF THE REFORMIST KING AMANULLAH KHAN (R. 1919-1929) AT THE HANDS OF THE RURAL REBELLION.2 PART 1: THE PROPHECY Almost ninety years later, Afghan diplomat Sirdar Muhammad Yunas Khan’s prophecy is coming true. What the diplomat did not know then was that the monument in question had already been constructed in 1923. Before going into exile, Amanullah Khan commissioned Dar ul-Aman palace as the seat of parliament within an ambitious new city planned by German experts, which would also bear his name (Fig. 1). Following the civil war in the 1990s, the palace and its gardens have stood in ruins atop a hill fourteen kilometers west of Kabul. The structure rises to a total height of thirty-three meters, each floor spanning fifty-four hundred square meters. For some, Dar ul-Aman is a memorial for Amanullah’s unrealized vision to establish an Afghan nation-state independent from British suzerainty. Or for his belief in the perfectibility of a vast population through citizenship and development. Amanullah led the offensive against the British in the Third Anglo-Afghan War between 6 May and 8 August 1919, securing the Durand line as the territorial border between British India and the Afghan Kingdom.
    [Show full text]
  • AFGHANISTAN CHRONOLOGY of EVENTS JANUARY 1995-FEBRUARY 1997 February 1997
    Issue Papers, Extended Responses and Country Fact Sheets Page 1 of 50 Français Home Contact Us Help Search canada.gc.ca Issue Papers, Extended Responses and Country Fact Sheets Home Issue Paper AFGHANISTAN CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS JANUARY 1995-FEBRUARY 1997 February 1997 Disclaimer This document was prepared by the Research Directorate of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada on the basis of publicly available information, analysis and comment. All sources are cited. This document is not, and does not purport to be, either exhaustive with regard to conditions in the country surveyed or conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. For further information on current developments, please contact the Research Directorate. Table of Contents GLOSSARY MAP INTRODUCTION CHRONOLOGY NOTES ON SELECTED SOURCES REFERENCES MAP See original. Source: Afghanistan: A Country Study 1986, p. xx. GLOSSARY Harakat Harakat-i Inqilab-i Islami (Movement of the Islamic Revolution). Predominantly Pashtun traditionalist and clerical Sunni party. Leader: Muhammad Nabi. Hizb Hizb-i Islami (Islamic Party). Predominantly Pashtun radical Islamist party of the intelligentsia. SCC member. Leader: Former Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hikmatyar. file://I:\country_ip\canada_coi\afghanistan\Af_chronology_1995-97.htm 9/6/2013 Issue Papers, Extended Responses and Country Fact Sheets Page 2 of 50 Hizb (Khalis) Hizb-i Islami (Islamic Party). Splinter group of Hikmatyar's Hizb. Leader: Yunis Khalis. Ittihad Ittihad-i Islami (Islamic Alliance). Predominantly Pashtun Islamist party supported by Saudi Arabia. Espouses Wahhabism and is anti-Shi'i. Allied to President Rabbani. Leader: Abdul Rasul Sayyaf. Jabha Jabha-yi Nijat-i Milli (National Salvation Front).
    [Show full text]
  • The Guide 2010
    The A to Z Guide 2010 to Afghanistan Assistance Eighth Edition AFGHANISTAN RESEARCH AND EVALUATION UNIT Research for a Better Afghanistan IMPORTANT NOTE: The information presented in this guide relies on the voluntary contributions of ministries and agencies of the Afghan government, embassies, development agencies and other organisations representing donor countries, national and international NGOs, and other institutions. While AREU undertakes with each edition of this guide to provide the most accurate and current information possible, details evolve and change continuously. Users of this guide are encouraged to submit updates, additions, corrections and suggestions to [email protected]. © 2010 Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, recording or otherwise without prior written permission of the publisher, the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit. Permission can be obtained by emailing [email protected] or by calling +93 (0) 799 608 548. Editor: Jay Lamey Research and writing: Laura Kim Government: Anna Larson and Jay Lamey Maps: Mohammad Karim and the map-making team at the Afghan Geodesy and Cartography Head Office (AGCHO) Contacts: Sheela Rabani with Laura Kim Special thanks: Mohammad Yasin Safar, Antonio Giustozzi, Richard Will, Royce Wiles, and Sayed Mohammad Shah Cover photograph: Boys looking out onto Band-i-Amir, Bamiyan Province/Gulbudin Elham (AINA) Cover design: Wakil Wasim Tab photographs: (A to Z) Spring in Darayim District, Badakhshan Province/Gulbudin Elham (AINA); (Government) Life Hardship/Oil and Acrylic on Canvas by Khadija Hashemi, 2007 (courtesy of the Center for Contemporary Arts Afghanistan); (Documents) Afghanistan’s first juice concentrate factory/Fardin Waezi (UNAMA); (Maps) Reconstruction/Gulbudin Elham (AINA); (Contacts) Preparing for Eid-Al-Adha/Fardin Waezi (UNAMA); (Index) Peace Day celebrations/Jawad Jalali (UNAMA).
    [Show full text]
  • 1. Cordovez, Diego and Selig S. Harrison: out of Afghanistan
    NOTES CHAPTER I 1. Cordovez, Diego and Selig S. Harrison: Out ofAfghanistan (Oxford: Oxford Uni­ versity Press, 1995), p. 26. 2. Lifschults, Lawrence: Pakistan Times, Islamabad, February 12, 1989, p. 23. 3. Wakmen, Mohammed A.: Afghanistan, Non-Alignment and the Super Powers (New York: Radiant Publisher, 1985), p. 5. 4. UNDP, Action plan for immediate rehabilitation of Afghanistan (New York: UN Publication, 1993), vol. 1, p. 7. 5. Wilber, Donald N.: Afghanistan (New York: Human Relation Press, 1980), p. 56. 6. Jawad, Nassi: Afghanistan: a Nation of Minorities (London: The Minority Rights Group, Brixton, 1992), p. 9. 7. Dupree, Louis: Afghanistan in the 1970s (New York: Praeger Publisher, Inc., 1974), p. 14. 8. The Holy Qur'an (Al Madonna: Madonna Publication, 1986), Surah 42, Aya 38, Aya 159, and Sura 3. 9. Ghobar, Ghulam Mohammed: Afghanistan dar Massir Tarikh (Kabul, Matba'ah Daulati, 1978), p. 80. 10. Ibid., p. 90. 11. Ibid., p. 277. 12. Anthony, Arnold and Rosanna Klass: "Afghanistan Communist Party and the Fragmented PDPA," in Afghanistan, the Great Game Revisited (New York: Free­ dom House, 1987), p. 13 5. 13. Hugh, Beattie: Afghanistan Studies (London: Society for Afghanistan Smdies, British Academy, 1982), vol. 3 and 4, p. 44. 14. Interview with Mr. Abdul Wassil (Wardak), the former woleswal of Enjeel, Herat, and the former governor of the Province of Parwan. He now resides in Con­ necticut. 15. Klass, Rosanna: Afghanistan, the Great Game Revisited (New York: Freedom House, 1987), p. 205. 16. Dupree, Louis: Afghanistan in the 1970s (New York, Praeger Publisher, Inc., 1974), p. 4. 17.
    [Show full text]