Paying for the Taliban's Crimes
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AFGHANISTAN Paying for the Taliban’s Crimes: Abuses Against Ethnic Pashtuns in Northern Afghanistan You are Pashtun. You don’t belong in this area. You must leave for Kabul, and leave [this area] for us. Jamiat commander speaking to Pashtun villager in Baghlan province. The Taliban did the crimes, but the punishment was for us. Pashtun elder, describing the abuses his village faced at the hands of Hizb-i Wahdat fighters. I’ve complained only to Allah. Who hears our complaints? We will only get in more trouble if we complain. We have no power. Whoever has the guns has the power. We are sick of the guns, of the commanders. Take them all away and let us farm. Elderly Pashtun villager whose house was looted by Jamiat forces. HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH APRIL 2002 VOL. 14, NO. 2 (C) TABLE OF CONTENTS SUMMARY.............................................................................................................. 1 RECOMMENDATIONS ......................................................................................... 3 To the International Community:............................................................................ 3 To the United Nations Security Council: ................................................................. 3 To the Afghan Interim Administration: .................................................................... 3 To Junbish-i Milly-yi Islami, Jamiat-e Islami, and Hizb-i Wahdat: .............................. 4 A NOTE ON THE USE OF NAMES, DATES, AND TERMS USED IN THIS REPORT .......................................................................... 4 INTRODUCTION................................................................................................... 5 The Return to Warlordism in Northern Afghanistan ................................................ 5 The Major Parties................................................................................................... 5 Warlordism and the International Community ......................................................... 6 Abuses Faced by Pashtuns ...................................................................................... 8 Displacement of Ethnic Pashtuns ............................................................................ 9 THE LEGACY OF TALIBAN ABUSES ..................................................................10 BALKH PROVINCE...............................................................................................12 Chimtal District ....................................................................................................12 Bargah-e Afghani ..... ........................................................................................12 Yengi Qala.............. ........................................................................................15 Rape in Chimtal District ...................................................................................18 Charbolak District .................................................................................................18 Nauwarid Janghura... ........................................................................................18 Kakrak .................... ........................................................................................19 Khanabad ................ ........................................................................................20 Balkh District........................................................................................................21 Balkh City............... ........................................................................................21 Turwai Kai Settlement ......................................................................................23 Aghab-e Godam Settlement ..............................................................................23 Spin Kot Settlement . ........................................................................................24 Dawlatabad District ...............................................................................................25 Pai-e Mashhad Afghani .....................................................................................25 Koter Ma ................ ........................................................................................26 Bagh-e Zakhireh ...... ........................................................................................27 Other Affected Pashtun Villages in Dawlatabad District.. ........................................................................................29 FARYAB PROVINCE .............................................................................................29 Shoor Darya Valley................................................................................................29 MK Village ............. ........................................................................................30 Haji Mullah Hashim and Khoja Abbas Villages...................................................32 Islam Qala............................................................................................................34 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH APRIL 2002 VOL. 14, NO. 2 (C) SAMANGAN PROVINCE ......................................................................................35 Hazrat-i Sultan District .........................................................................................35 Shurkul ................... ........................................................................................35 Khoja Pirshan .......... ........................................................................................35 Aibak District........................................................................................................36 Hassan Khel ............ ........................................................................................36 Ghazi Mullah Qurban.......................................................................................37 BAGHLAN PROVINCE .........................................................................................37 Nahrin District......................................................................................................37 Qona Qala............... ........................................................................................37 Baraki..................... ........................................................................................39 Lakan Khel.............. ........................................................................................40 Jadran ..................... ........................................................................................41 Other Pashtun Villages in Nahrin District ...........................................................42 Kilagai Valley........................................................................................................42 KUNDUZ AND OTHER PROVINCES ..................................................................43 THE RESPONSE OF THE AFGHAN AUTHORITIES ...........................................44 Establishment of Independent Commission.............................................................44 Preliminary Steps toward Improving Security in the North .......................................45 THE ROLE OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY...................................46 The United States and the International Assistance Force for Afghanistan (ISAF)......46 The ISAF Contributing Countries..........................................................................47 The United Nations ...............................................................................................48 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH APRIL 2002 VOL. 14, NO. 2 (C) AFGHANISTAN: PAYING FOR THE TALIBAN’S CRIMES about two, two and a half hours.” The beatings SUMMARY finally stopped when M.J. showed the soldiers where he had hidden his money. A.S., a wealthy livestock owner from the Shoor Darya region, Since the collapse of the Taliban regime in was almost beaten to death by two Junbish northern Afghanistan in November 2001, ethnic soldiers who wanted money from him: “At first Pashtuns throughout northern Afghanistan have they choked me with my turban. I lost faced widespread abuses including killings, sexual consciousness, and they tied my hands. Then violence, beatings, extortion, and looting. they started beating me with a kardoom [a cable Pashtuns are being targeted because their ethnic with a metal ball at the end]. I can’t remember group was closely associated with the Taliban how many times they hit me, on my back, my regime, whose leadership consisted mostly of legs, my hands. They broke my arm with the Pashtuns from southern Afghanistan. kardoom.” The beating stopped when A.S. agreed to give the men money and hand over his Directly implicated in many of the abuses are motorbike. the three main ethnically-based parties and their militias in northern Afghanistan—the Cases of abductions for ransom were predominantly ethnic Uzbek Junbish-i Milly-yi documented throughout the region. Junbish Islami, the predominately ethnic Tajik Jamiat-e soldiers arrested M.K and his friend, both Islami, and the ethnic Hazara Hizb-i Wahdat—as Pashtun villagers from Hassan Khel in Samangan well as non-aligned armed Uzbeks, Tajiks, and province, in late December, and kept them for a Hazaras who are taking advantage of the week in a basement, beating them with wire vulnerability of unprotected and selectively cables, until the men agreed to pay money. disarmed Pashtun communities. Raiders also killed Pashtun civilians