06 November 2001
Fact Sheet: The Taliban's Betrayal of the Afghan People
(Issued by the Office of International Information Programs)(2380)
(begin fact sheet)
Nov. 6 Update
The Afghan people have been the primary victims of Taliban misrule,
since the Taliban came to power in 1996. The Taliban militia was
formed in 1994, in response to human rights abuses by other warring
factions in Afghanistan. By 1996, the Taliban had captured Kabul, and,
with claims to religious as well as political authority, began a reign
of terror. The Taliban have made the Afghan people the unwilling hosts
of foreign armed terrorists, who have exploited and endangered the
Afghan people, and made Afghanistan a pariah in the world community.
This updated fact sheet outlines documented atrocities and human
rights abuses committed by the Taliban against the Afghan people.
Massacres
The Taliban have massacred hundreds of Afghan civilians, including
women and children, in Yakaolang, Mazar-I-Sharif, Bamiyan, Qezelabad,
and other towns. Many of the victims of these massacres were targeted
because of their ethnic or religious identity.
Massacre at Yakaolang: January 2001
Taliban forces committed a massacre in Yakaolang in January 2001. The
victims were primarily Hazaras. The massacre began on January 8, 2001,
and continued for four days. The Taliban detained about 300 civilian
adult males, including staff members of local humanitarian
organizations. The men were herded to assembly points, and then shot
by firing squad in public view. According to Human Rights Watch, about
170 men are confirmed to have been killed. According to Amnesty
International, eyewitnesses reported the deliberate killing of dozens
of civilians hiding in a mosque: Taliban soldiers fired rockets into a
mosque where some 73 women, children and elderly men had taken
shelter.
Massacre at Robatak Pass: May 2000
The May 2000 massacre took place near the Robatak pass. Thirty one
bodies were found at one site; of these, 26 were positively identified
as civilians. The victims were Hazara Shi'as.
Massacre in Bamiyan: 1999
When the Taliban recaptured Bamiyan in 1999, there were reports that
Taliban forces carried out summary executions upon entering the city.
According to Amnesty International, hundreds of men, and some
instances women and children, were separated from their families,
taken away, and killed. Human Rights Watch reports that besides
executing civilians, the Taliban burned homes and used detainees for
forced labor.
Massacre in the Shomaili Plains: July 1999
Human Rights Watch reports that a Taliban offensive here was marked by
summary executions, the abduction and disappearance of women, the
burning of homes, destruction of property, and the cutting down of
fruit trees. According to a report by the U.N. Secretary General on
November 16, 1999, "The Taliban forces, who allegedly carried out
these acts, essentially treated the civilian population with hostility
and made no distinction between combatants and non-combatants."
Massacre in Mazar-I-Sharif: August 1998
In August 1998, the Taliban captured Mazar-I-Sharif. There were
reports that between 2,000 and 5,000 men, women and children -- mostly
ethnic Hazara civilians -- were massacred by the Taliban after the
takeover of Mazar-I-Sharif. During the massacre, the Taliban forces
carried out a systematic search for male members for the ethnic
Hazara, Tajik, and Uzbek communities in the city. Human Rights Watch
estimates that scores, perhaps hundreds, of Hazara men and boys were
summarily executed. There were also reports that women and girls were
raped and abducted during the Taliban takeover of the city.
Massacre in Mazar-I-Sharif: September 1997
Retreating Taliban forces summarily executed Hazara villagers near
Mazar-I-Sharif, after having failed to capture the city. Amnesty
International reported that the Taliban massacred 70 Hazara civilians,
including children, in Qezelabad, near Mazar-I-Sharif. There were also
reports that the Taliban forces in Faryab province killed some 600
civilians in late 1997.
Other Massacres: On at least two occasions, according to Human Rights
Watch, the Taliban killed delegations of Hazara elders who had
attempted to intercede with them.
Human Rights Abuses Against Women and Girls
Taliban rule has been particularly harsh for Afghan women and girls.
Taliban restrictions against women and girls are widespread,
institutionally sanctioned, and systematic in Taliban-controlled areas
of Afghanistan.
-- Girls are formally prohibited from attending school.
-- Women are prohibited, with very few exceptions, from working
outside the home, and are forbidden to leave their homes except in the
company of a male relative. These restrictions are devastating for the
thousands of Afghan war widows, who have reportedly been reduced to
selling their possessions or begging to feed their families.
-- The Taliban have significantly reduced women's access to health
care, by decreeing that women can only be treated by women doctors.
-- The Taliban threaten and beat women to enforce the Taliban's dress
code for women.
The Taliban and the Humanitarian Situation
The humanitarian situation in Afghanistan is grim. Twenty years of
internal armed conflict, and four years of devastating drought have
contributed to this situation, but the Taliban have made an already
grave situation much worse, holding the Afghan people hostage to their
political agenda.
-- The Taliban do not share the hardships they have imposed on the
Afghan people, and they have done nothing to alleviate these
hardships.
-- The Taliban have not only failed to provide security, food, and
shelter for the Afghan people, but they have disrupted the efforts of
international relief agencies to deliver desperately needed food and
medical supplies to the Afghan people.
-- The Taliban have harassed Afghan and international aid workers;
have seized and looted humanitarian supplies; and have stolen vehicles
belonging to humanitarian agencies, including UN humanitarian
agencies. According to NGOs and press reports, these incidents are on
the rise.
-- November 6: The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) says the Taliban is
hindering humanitarian efforts inside Afghanistan, while at the same
time calling for more international help. Speaking on behalf of the
UNHCR, Peter Kessler said the Taliban was failing to cooperate: "The
UNHCR and our partner agencies have had our vehicles stolen, our
offices taken over and our staff beaten." (Source: as reported by the
BBC)
-- October 31: The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) offices in Spin Boldak
were taken over by Taliban soldiers. (Source: UNHCR)
-- October 18: Taliban soldiers seized the Mercy Corps International
Office in Kandahar, and remain in possession of the office and MCI
vehicles. (Source: Mercy Corps)
-- October 17: The Taliban occupied the Kunduz office and warehouse of
the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The warehouse had
been stocked with winter clothing, shoes and blankets to be
distributed to internally displaced persons in the region. (Source:
IOM)
-- October 16: The Swedish Committee for Afghanistan reported that its
compound in Taliban-controlled Mazar-I-Sharif was seized on October
16, with fuel stores set ablaze by the Taliban. (Source: Human Rights
Watch)
-- October 16: The Taliban seized control of two UN World Food Program
(WFP) warehouses, one in Kabul, and one in Kandahar, containing more
than half the World Food Program's wheat supply for Afghanistan. While
the Kabul warehouse was returned to the WFP, the Taliban still control
the Kandahar warehouse, and have prevented Afghan WFP staff from
distributing food. The WFP in Kandahar had been feeding 150,000
Afghans a month before the Taliban seizure. The WFP reports that 1600
tons of food and several vehicles have since disappeared from the
Kandahar WFP warehouse. (Source: World Food Program)
-- October 16: The UN Security Council demanded that the Taliban cease
obstructing aid destined for the Afghan people.
-- September 16-October 15: A demining agency working in Kandahar told
Human Rights Watch that they had 35 vehicles confiscated by the
Taliban between September 26 and October 15. The Taliban looted the
offices of the agency, taking spare parts, generators, radios and the
personal assets of the demining workers. (Source: Human Rights Watch)
-- October 8: Armed Taliban entered the compound of a demining NGO in
Kandahar and demanded vehicles. Staff who resisted were beaten. The
Taliban left with several ambulances, seven pick-up trucks, and six
cargo trucks from the compound. (Source: Human Rights Watch)
-- October 8: Armed Taliban entered the compound of the UN Coordinator
for Humanitarian Affairs in Mazar-I-Sharif, and looted communications
equipment. (Source: Human Rights Watch)
-- October 7: Armed Taliban entered the Kabul compound of an NGO
engaged in demining operations. Staff members were beaten, and the
Taliban broke some of the locks on the vehicles, but did not take
them. (Source: Human Rights Watch)
Taliban Hide Behind Afghan Civilians
The Taliban have put the Afghan civilian population in great danger by
deliberately hiding their soldiers and equipment in civilian areas,
including in mosques.
-- "Whole villages are being used as human shields by the Taliban to
protect their large stockpiles of ammunition and weapons hidden in
nearby caves," according to a senior U.S. military officer. (As
reported in the Washington Post, November 6)
-- In the southern city of Kandahar, Taliban authorities who had
worked for the Ministry for the Prevention of Vice and the Promotion
of Virtue have reportedly relocated to mosques. In Khost, Taliban
troops have reportedly taken over NGO relief organization buildings.
(Attributed to a senior U.S. military officer, as reported by the
Washington Post, November 6)
-- According to a senior U.S. military officer, a truck in a convoy
purportedly on a humanitarian mission to deliver food tipped over, and
crates of tank and mortar shells could be seen spilling to the ground
beneath a thin layer of flour. (As reported in the Washington Post,
November 6)
-- An Afghan refugee recently arrived in Pakistan from Kabul said,
"Now the Taliban are taking their guns to the residential areas, and
when they fire at the [American] planes, the planes see them and drop
bombs on them. That's when the innocent people die." (As reported in
the Christian Science Monitor, Oct. 30)
-- The Taliban park their vehicles among the taxis at the central bus
station in Kabul by day, and sleep in nearby hotels at night. (As
reported in the New York Times, Oct. 26)
-- Refugees from Kabul report that some Taliban are taking over
private homes in order to avoid their barracks and reduce the risk of
being bombed. These refugees also say the Taliban are storing weapons
in mosques and schools. (As reported in the Washington Post and the
Baltimore Sun, Oct. 24)
-- The spokesman for the Department of Defense, Navy Rear Admiral
Stufflebeem, said on October 24: "The Taliban regime has been moving
troops and equipment and perhaps its leaders into civilian areas. The
reports indicate that troops and equipment are being housed in mosques
and schools to shield them from the U.S. bombardment...."
Taliban Forcibly Conscript Young Afghans
Refugees from Afghanistan arriving in Pakistan in recent days report
that the Taliban are forcibly conscripting young men and boys. Some
refugees cite forced conscription as their reason for fleeing
Afghanistan. In addition, there are reports that Taliban forced
conscription is also taking place in refugee camps inside Afghan
borders.
-- A 20-year old male refugee from Taloqan, newly arrived in a refugee
camp in Pakistan, said: "We came three days ago... the Taliban came
collecting young boys for the front line, after the American bombs. My
mother was afraid. They are telling everyone, very young boys, that
they must come to fight, defend our country against America. I did not
want to fight against America." (As reported by the Washington Post,
October 30)
-- There were reports from Mazar-I-Sharif that the Taliban were
forcibly conscripting young men, setting a quota of two men per
neighborhood, and heavily fining those who refused. (As reported by
the Chicago Tribune, October 30)
-- Many of the refugees crossing into Pakistan at Chaman over the past
few weeks have told the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) that they fear being
forced to fight for the Taliban. There are consistent reports of
forced conscription. (As reported by the UNHCR)
The Taliban and Islam
The Taliban have imposed their own interpretation of Islam on the
Afghan people.
-- Taliban interpretations of Islam are not widely shared in the
Muslim world.
-- Taliban words and actions misrepresent Islam.
-- The Taliban have used Islam as a cloak to practice ethnic cleansing
in Afghanistan.
-- Warning against "converting our countries into another
Afghanistan," Saudi writer Turki Al Hamad, writing in As-Sharq Al
Awsat, put it this way:"...[under the Taliban], Islam would be
relegated from a world religion with a global human and civilized
mission to a Taliban-like dogma that bans pigeon breeding, long hair,
kite flying, and listening to music.... That, at a time when the rest
of the world is de-coding the genome, experimenting with cloning,
inventing information chips, exploring outer space and tackling the
wonders of laser beams and infra-red radiation. If we want to have an
impact on today's world, the only way to do so is by interacting with
it."
Destruction of Afghan Culture
The Taliban have perverted Afghan customs, tradition, and religious
practice for their own narrow political interests.
-- The Taliban and their foreign armed militant "guests" have set
about destroying traditional Afghan culture.
-- They have prohibited all forms of music, except for religious
chants, and have banned traditional recreation, such as kite flying.
-- They have looted and destroyed the historical and cultural
patrimony of the Afghan people -- the Kabul Museum, formerly one of
the finest museums in the region, is largely empty; the centuries-old
Buddhist statues in Bamiyan have been reduced to rubble.
-- They have deprived the people of Afghanistan both their history,
and their future.
Documenting Taliban Abuses
-- Several non-government organizations maintain web sites documenting
Taliban abuses.
-- The web site of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of
Afghanistan (www.rawa.fancymarketing.net) maintains a gallery of still
photos and video clips documenting massacres, beatings, and executions
by the Taliban. The documentary photos and videos were clandestinely
made by Afghan women to provide evidence of Taliban atrocities.
-- Several human rights organizations maintain web sites documenting
human rights abuses by the Taliban and other factions in the Afghan
conflict. Human Rights Watch (www.hrw.org) and Amnesty International
(www.amnesty.org) provide extensive documentation of these abuses.
(end fact sheet)
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