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    Posted: 22-Oct-2005 at 23:59
Originally posted by bang

Seko Ill post stuff with sources...not now but later....

Im from afghanistan and I have lived there long enough and from my personal experience I know that pashtons are sick. but like I said...ill prove to you that...taliban did not have support of non-pashtons...and also regardin russians n other stuff...

Ill get back to u later...



Just like all Chinese are buck toothed, all Americans are loud and arrogant, all Jews are greedy, and all Mexicans are gardeners right?

Keep talking stereotypes Bang, that'll get you real far.

What group of people doesn't have a flawed history?  You're looking for perfection in people, something that we don't have.


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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23-Oct-2005 at 09:08
Originally posted by OSMANLI

So what your trying to say is that 100% of Pathans are pro-Taliban?

what rubbish, if thats the case then why has there been so many Pathans migrating from Afghanistan to Britain and other nations. If you are from Afghanistan then you should be thanking the Mujahidin for saving you from the Russions. Fine the Taliban wasnt too good either but atleast you were not disgraced by the occupation of foreiners.

Osmanli u make me sick in the stomach!....you obviously have no clue about taliban..all u care is that they were 'muslims' and cannot be bad! and its better to be killed by muslims than foreigners....damn you islamists!



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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23-Oct-2005 at 09:11
How the Taliban slaughtered thousands of people

No mercy: men, women and children were murdered in their homes as Taliban gunmen took over Mazar-e-Sharif
The Sunday Times , Nov.1,1998
By Michael Sheridan

THE first detailed eyewitness accounts of the massacre of up to 8,000 people by Islamic fundamentalist Taliban fighters who ran amok in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif last August have been passed to western governments.

Testimony compiled by international observers and handed to western diplomats in Pakistan reveals that hundreds of people were packed into containers where they suffocated when the doors were locked in the searing midday heat. Men, women and children were shot in their homes and on the street, and hospital patients were murdered in their beds.

The massacre occurred when, during an offensive aimed at seizing full control of Afghanistan for the first time, Mazar-e-Sharif was overrun by the Taliban, who have imposed the world's most extreme interpretation of Islam, barring women from education, banning television and forcing men to wear beards.

Statements made available to The Sunday Times describe a campaign of slaughter directed against a Shia Muslim minority, the Hazara. The evidence, regarded by experienced aid officials as "highly credible", paints a ghastly picture of butchery and rape as the Taliban shot and cut the throats of Hazaras.

The claims are supported by the influential American group Human Rights Watch, which is due to reveal its own findings on the massacre today and will call on the United Nations to investigate what it describes as "one of the single worst examples of killings of civilians in Afghanistan's 20-year war".

The detailed evidence of Taliban atrocities will embarrass western policymakers who still see the fundamentalists as useful players in a modern "great game" to keep Iranian and Russian influence out of Afghanistan and so ensure that the huge oil and gas riches of central Asia remain a prize for western multinationals.

Ten diplomats from Tehran were among those who died, prompting Iran to mass 200,000 troops on its border with Afghanistan to bolster demands for the killers to be handed over for trial. Troop "manoeuvres" were due to begin yesterday.

Based on eyewitness statements, The Sunday Times has pieced together an account of the nightmare that engulfed Mazar-e-Sharif when the Taliban entered the city from the west on the morning of August 8. They were intent on avenging a massacre of some 2,000 of their own men in 1997, when the Hazaras and other fighters turned against them.

There ensued what one witness called "a frenzy" of vengeance killing. The Taliban fighters swept through the city, firing heavy machineguns mounted on pickup trucks. One man described how the streets were covered with bodies and blood. The Taliban, he said, forbade anyone to bury the corpses for six days.

On the second day, according to numerous witnesses, the Taliban began a house-to-house search for Hazara men. Hazaras, descended from Mongols, are easy to recognise by their distinctive Asiatic features compared with the ethnic Pashtuns who make up the ranks of the Taliban. They share their Shia faith with Iran, while the Taliban are Sunni Muslims.

A witness whose testimony is described as "extremely reliable" by aid officials said most of the victims had been shot in the head, the chest and the testicles. Others had been slaughtered in what he called "the halal way" - by having their throats slit.

One housewife, who has since fled to Pakistan, said the Taliban entered her house and shot her husband and her two brothers dead. Then they cut the men's throats in front of the woman and her children.

Another piece of testimony explained why one Taliban was "very worried he might be excluded from heaven". He had personally shot people in nearly 30 houses, opting to kill them as soon as they opened the door. After killing the men in two homes, he learnt that they were not Hazara but Pashtun. "That he had killed people in 28 Hazara households seemed not to cause him any concern at all," the witness said.

Men not murdered on the spot were "stuffed into containers after being badly beaten", said another witness. He saw the doors opened on a container after all the men inside had died from suffocation.

He also testified that some containers were filled with children who were taken to an unknown destination after their parents had been killed.

Human Rights Watch has obtained gruesome confirmation of the Taliban's penchant for death by container. It quotes a man who was detained by the militia and saw container trucks filled with victims leaving the Mazar-e-Sharif jail several times every day.

Once he watched as the Taliban opened the container doors to find three prisoners alive and about 300 dead. The Taliban drove the trucks to a desert site known as Dasht-e-Leili and ordered porters to dump the cargo of corpses in the sands.

The Human Rights Watch report and other statements identify three Taliban leaders who appear to be guilty of incitement to kill victims purely because of their ethnic origin. They are:

Mullah Manon Niazi, the new Taliban governor of Mazar-e-Sharif. Numerous witnesses heard him make speeches at mosques and on radio inciting hatred of Hazaras. "Wherever you go we will catch you," he said. "If you go up, we will pull you down by your feet; if you hide below we will pull you up by your hair." One witness testified that Niazi personally selected prisoners to be consigned to the death containers.

Mullah Musa, the so-called director of public health. A witness said Musa toured a public hospital looking for Hazara patients to mark out for death. Later that day, the witness heard from a doctor that Musa had taken a group of gunmen to the army hospital, where they had murdered all 20 or so patients, and relatives who had been visiting them.

Maulawi Mohammed Hanif, a Taliban commander who announced to a crowd of 300 people summoned to a mosque that the policy of the Taliban was to "exterminate" the Hazaras.

International aid workers fear the killings are continuing following the recent fall of the central Afghan town of Bamiyan. They have said thousands of people remain unaccounted for.

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23-Oct-2005 at 09:17
Eyewitness accounts of Taliban massacre in Yakaolang

By RAWA reporters, June 2001

The massacre of around 300 people in Yakaolang, which took place on 9th January 2001 by the Taliban, has been observed without much ado by the governments and media of the world. In a situation where our country has been besieged politically and economically by regional and global powers, the voice of our nation is bound captive in the claws of fundamentalists and their foreign guardians, thus remaining unheard. RAWA, which considers itself the loyal ally to the desires of the people of Afghanistan, and especially the deeply pained women of the country, takes as its revolutionary duty to break the fundamentalists' and their foreign allies' blockade of silence and to carry the just voices of our oppressed people to every nook and corner of the world.

The eyewitnesses interviewed by RAWA had been war captive of the Taliban, Arabs and Pakistanis; they recall the depth of the matter in this way:

"Sufi Gardizi the military commander and representative of Taliban in Yakaolang is a very sick man, fanatical and factionalist. Before the day of the massacre of the people of Yakaolang, Sufi Gurdizi fanned a policy of discord between the tribe of Sadat and Hazara. He gathered supporters amongst Khalqis, Purchamis (Khaliq and Parcham were two fictions of PDPA a puppet party of Russia) and Nasries (members of a pro-Iran party called Nasr) who were enforcing his commands such as Gulam Ali, General Hayat Ullah Khalqi, Sheikh Raza Saeedi, Syed Jawad, Syed Abdullah and others. One month before the tragedy of Yakaolang rumor spread that Karim Khalili was making preparation for an assault against the Taliban. Taliban and Jawadi (on behalf of the Nasries) gave assurance to the people that on the basis of the agreement between Taliban and Khalili at the Suof valley, they would not attack Yakaolang. At the middle of December the forces of Khalili started to move from the area of Suof valley towards Bameyan. Preparation was made by Sufi Gardizi, his assistant (Niaz Muhammad) and General Khadim Khalqi against the possible attack of Khalili.

The first clash took place at the Gum Aab. General Khadim and Hayat (Khalqi) lost the battle to Khalili, but the fighting continued both sides moved towards Yakaolang. After some clashes the forces of Khalili entered Yakaolang on 2nd of January. Six days later Khalili and Co. gathered the people of different villages and a man known by the name of Khuda Dad Urfani, who introduced himself as the welfare minister of the government of Rabbani, gave a speech in which he said: "This time we will not act like in the past. We will not sell lice (fighters of Hezb-e-Wahdat were used to block the roads in areas under their control and forcibly sell their lice on passengers and get huge amount of money from them); will not show the dance of the death (one of the brutal crimes committed by Hezb-e-Wahdat was to chop off the head of their victims and then put boiled oil on it to stop the bleeding and then they enjoy the movements of the victims till he breaths his last. They were calling it "Dance of the death". There are many reports of this wild act by them), we will not sell opium to the fronts. We have read these things in Payam-e-Zan and it is shameful for us to record what went before once again in the books of history".

On 7th of January Taliban started their counter attacks towards the sub-province and after two days of war, the armed men of Khalili escaped and the district of Yakaolang once again came under the control of Taliban.

On 9th of January Taliban surrendered the center of the sub-province and Dra Ali which contain the following villages: Bugandak, Nazar Shah, Qala Shah Nang, Mandeek, Gubandi, Kushkak, Akhundan, Dahan Shorab, Sar-e-Asyab, Khata Khana, and Bedmishkin. The Arabs and Pakistanis were in charge of searching house by house. A very horrendous and intimidating atmosphere prevailed over the area. Women and children were mourning loudly. Blood flowed in the eyes of young and old men, as their hands were tied behind their backs with their turbans. No one was there to come to the relief of those innocent and hapless people. Khalili had escaped and empty-handed people left to wait for punishment of Taliban. A very small number of people succeeded to take their families to the nearby mountains and remained secure. The decree of Mullah Omar and Arabs had been issued as such: "Behead all men whose age is greater than 12, let it be a warning lesson for the Sadat and Hazara survivors of the Yakaolang". The command of massacre was carried out within three days. They tied the hands of people on their back immediately after their arrest and carried them to the sub-province under the watchful eyes of Arabs and Pakistanis.

They had chosen the place of mass execution on the back of the building of Oxfam, a hospital near Shor Aab (back of the house of Syed Hasan Karimi). They lined up the victims of such horrible crime against each other and then fired in turn on them. Brother was watching the death of his brother and uncle was watching the death of his nephew who himself was about to be shot dead in a moment.



Mass graves in Bedmishkin village where the victims are buried.
Click on the photo to view more photos

Syed Hamid Ullah, Syed Muhammad Bakhsh, Haji Gulam Hasain and Syed Muhammad (eye witness of the massacre of Yakaolang) unbelievably and miraculously survived this slaughterhouse. They have witnessed the killing of their relatives by the Taliban. Syed Habib Ullah a teacher was trapped in the snare of Taliban, recall his story like this:

"I with twelve other men became the prey of Taliban. They tied our hands with the ropes on our back and moved us towards the sub-province. Our guards were Arabs and Pakistanis. When we reached the river, they didn't allow us to take off our shoes. The weather was extremely cold and snowy. After passing the river our clothes and legs changed to a piece of ice. They didn't allow any of us to talk. The distance from the village to the center of the sub-province was about an hour. During the way the humiliation and beating by Arabs and Pakistanis continued.

They kept us in the neighborhood of the building of O.P.S. A man by the name of Adul Hameed who was Tajik and my student, interceded for me and Syed Sharaf. He went to tell Taliban that we belong to the nationality of Tajik and are the true followers of the last Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). They separated three of us from the other twelve people, and took the remaining to the front of the building of Oxfam and positioned them facing the wall. In this massacre the number of Pakistanis and Arabs exceeded the Taliban. A quarrel broke out amongst them, each one of them wanted to do the killing with his own hands and gain the blessing of becoming a Ghazi (According to Islamic traditions a person becomes Ghazi by killing the enemy of Islam, but in Afghanistan people also call anyone who fight foreign aggressors. Tr). Meanwhile they lined up some other men including teacher Syed Amin, targeted their face and hearts and in turn shot them to dead with the Klashnikovs. We saw bodies dieing with great difficulty. Amongst them there were semi-dead bodies that cried for help. The dreadful hours and the nightmare of that day was a deep blow in our heart and soul, which would never be forgotten by us till the end of our lives. They allowed three of us to go to our homes. Next day, they killed my brother in front of the eyes of his wife and children when he left his underground hiding place and tried to escape.

Three village elders who succeeded in escaping from the slaughterhouse of Taliban describe their stories as follow:

"We were taken to the back of the building of Oxfam (British NGO). They separated three of us from the other 24 people. They immediately shot down the remaining ones. The bullet was striking at the head and face of our sons, brothers, nephews, uncles and other relatives. Their blood-smeared bodies covered the ground. After 15 minutes while beating and humiliating us, they dragged us towards the dead bodies of our relatives. Just looking at them closely we were about to lose our consciousness. Whatever the situation was we had to keep our senses. Curses and threats of death by the Taliban continued. Trembling of the hands and feet of our relatives was the indication to help them. At the front side of the ground, a vehicle was ready to carry the dead and semi-dead bodies. Consecutive blows of the stock of the rifles increased the pain of our bodies. How could I help the semi-dead people? With the force of the gun they compelled us to throw them inside the vehicle like stone and wood. With the help of sordid Taliban we carried them to Shor Aab and once again with threat and beating unloaded the car. If we could have helped, some of them could have lived, but the wild slaves stopped us from helping the wounded people. After the end of the work while being exhausted we were allowed to leave and make our way towards the village. On reaching near the village we heard the moan and cry of women and children. We asked an old lady what is the matter? She said: 'they took all men with them and plundered whatever they found'.

"Four days later Taliban allowed us to bury the martyrs. There and in the surrounding villages we had no clue of any man to help us in carrying and burying them". The village of Bedmishkin had 34 martyrs that were recognized by these three men and were carried to the shrine within three days. "Another two days passed till with the help of some old men from Gird Baid village and Khum Astana we prepared a mass grave for the dead bodies. The people of village cannot forget the burning pain of that day forever. For the old mothers, grief-stricken women and miserable children that have seen the dead bodies of their fathers, husband and sons in that freezing cold weather, martyred by the brutal hands of the Taliban and their Arab and Pakistani counterparts on the pretext of being Hazara or Syed, must be the unluckiest day and most probably the end of their lives. The fate of another 165 martyrs also finished in the same way and the survivors sat in sorrow. After this horrible and disgraceful incident took place, the forces of Khalili again took control of the city. Khalili, leader of Hezb-e-Whadat (Unity Party), this infamous servant of Iranian regime, came to pray for the dead on their graves. Everyone including old men and women of the village at the same day reached the graveyard. After finding Kalili there, they all started to shout and cry "why has this man come to the graveyard while he himself had a hand in the killing of our sons?"

One night, before the massacre of the people of Yakaolang in the area of Dah Surk, Aziz Topchi had proposed to attack the sub-province at night because Taliban were not well informed of the area. But Khalili in reply had told him: "Let Taliban come and kill everyone so in the future people react and fight against them". You can very easily judge the personality of this traitor and his feeling for his people, from such sentences, even though he claims himself to be their leader.

"After the massacre of the innocent people of our village, the plundering and looting of the property of people came. Taliban looted the people in the same amount as armed men of Khalili did before and after the massacre. The eyewitnesses said that the gunmen of the two wings searched houses, and took money, jewelry, tape recorders and other expensive things. For example 70 million Afghani in cash was taken from the house of Syed Raheem "Khum Astana", 30 million cash from the house of Syed Asad Ullah of "Bedmishkin village" about one million and sixty hundred thousand from the wife of Syed Ghazfar and etc. Beside looting and plundering, the inhuman act of Taliban and Arabs continued by the raping of women and girls. Violating the honor of Sulatan's daughter is the tip of the iceberg.

After all that adversity, the old men and women decided to leave the area. The sad and horrifying tale of their journey in that cold weather, traveling by foot from one mountain to another mountain, by itself is another story that the eyewitnesses have described with tears in their eyes. It is enough to understand that in past winters, people spent six month of the season in their homes, not even thinking of traveling outside the area.

The fact that the world has not heard about nor attended to the atrocities of the Taliban and the massacre of Yakaolang in the depth in which it should leaves the Taliban free to pretend that the matter did not occur. If we pay attention to the Radio Shariat interview with the two Taliban servants by the name of Taqadus and Tawab Hydarey, who themselves are ethnic Hazara we can find out how they want to deny everything by saying, "the enemies of the Islamic Emirate want to make an important matter out of the incident of Yakaolang. No killing has occurred there and we deny it. The people of Yakaolang should consider the rightfulness of the Islamic Emirate."

Behind these acts only one policy is lurking and it is ethnic cleansing. The people of Shamali (northern areas) and other places are also victim of such incidents. The massacre of Yakaolang will not be the end of such measures taken by the Taliban. Unfortunately our people will be waiting for even worse days with more of these kinds of savage and inhuman acts, which are dictated by fundamentalists and their foreign masters.

A Hazara woman "M" from Bedmishkin village describes her sorrowful story:

"We were at our home when Taliban rushed in and started searching the whole house. I pleaded for mercy and showed Holy Quran to them but they threw the Quran into the heater. They destroyed all our possessions even the food items and took the expensive materials with them.

My brother ran away when he was informed that Taliban are patrolling everywhere. He had hidden himself at the back of a wall but he was discovered by Taliban and killed on the spot. After two days we were informed by Taliban to take the wounded body of my brother but we found his dead body in a very bad condition. The freezing weather has stuck his wounded body to the ground.

It had turned to a normal habit that whenever we heard firing we used to cover our children with quilt just to give them a psychological protection against noisy sound of firings and now the children have become used to that so even in Pakistan when they hear some noise they wrap themselves in the quilts.

My mother's cousin, Yahya who was a pretty young boy was killed in the same way by the Taliban. Taliban entered their house and took him out and killed him right across from their gate. This happened early in the morning and the dead body was lying over there till night when his wife and his five children came out late at night to search for their father. His body received several bullets, indicating that he had resisted to Taliban torture. The snow around him had been turned red. Taliban stopped his wife and children while they were trying to take his dead body back home. His wife and two other elder women pleaded a lot with Taliban to release the dead body but the Taliban turned down any plea. Taliban beat Yahya's wife so much that she nearly died. Late at night when the Taliban vacated the area, Yahya's relatives, all women brought his dead body back home and buried him there."

"N.B" widow of a victim (Wali) describes:

"Taliban entered into our houses and set everything on fire. My husband ran away and told me he would not return until a month. An hour later I heard firing near my house but I ignored it as I thought it might be the usual firing. Two days later, a 7 years old boy knocked on our door at night and informed us that Uncle Wali had been killed by Taliban. I couldn't believe it because I thought that Wali had gone to Kabul. He said Wali's dead body is lying at the back of the wall. I couldn't bear that sad condition. Taliban had killed him near the wall while he was trying to flee. His eyes and mouth were open and his teeth had turned blue by the chilling weather. The cruel Taliban have searched his pocket and took his whole belongings. His blood had dried up and had stuck him to the ground. I was alone and couldn't move his dead body and there was no one else in the house to help me. Wali's dead body remained there for one day more until I found two men who brought his dead body to our house and I myself buried him. We stayed there for a week then I along with some other families immigrated to Pakistan. My 6 month-old baby caught a severe coughing-cold on the way and died before reaching Pakistan. The agony of my husband and my baby is still burning in my heart and I remember each and every moment of those disastrous days.

My uncle was arrested by Taliban, who accused him of having hidden weapon. He was a poor peasant who had no link with any armed group. Taliban took him out of his house and shot him before his relatives. His mother and his wife begged Taliban to allow them to bury his dead body but Taliban didn't allow any one to go close to him. His mother was looking after his dead body for three days so that the dogs wouldn't eat him. When Taliban left the place they buried him.

Our neighbor, whose husband had been killed many years ago, was living with her children. When Taliban left the village to patrol and kill the young people in other villages, she took her youngest son along with her and went to mountains and told her other sons to remain in the basement room. After several days when she came back, her elder son had died of cold. For several days she kept the dead body of her son in the house because Taliban didn't allow the people to bury the dead bodies."

Another widow:

"We were at our home when Taliban rushed into our house and searched the whole house. They asked about the men and we told them that all the men were taken by Taliban and we don't have any news of their whereabouts. They took 10,000,000 Afghanis (around US$160) from one house and 800,000,000 Afghanis from another house. Taliban killed my husband, brother-in-law and my sister's husband who were young."

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23-Oct-2005 at 09:21

Source: http://hrw.org/reports98/afghan/Afrepor0-02.htm

III. THE FIRST DAY OF THE TAKEOVER

Taliban troops entered the western outskirts of Mazar-i Sharif at about 9:30 a.m. on August 8. Residents reported hearing firing from the west from the early morning; many stated that they assumed that fighting had broken out between various factions within the United Front and that they did not realize that the Taliban had reached the city until they saw their characteristic black turbans and white flags. The firing continued until about 1:00 p.m. One witness described it as a "killing frenzy." Although several witnesses reported seeing bodies of Hizb-i Wahdat fighters in some locations, from the descriptions provided by survivors it is clear that many of those killed were noncombatants. One witness who passed through a market area on her way home saw that among those killed were a boy who had been selling bread from a cart, a woman who she was told had been on her way to a social gathering, and a man who had been grinding wheat. Many merchants in the bazaar were reportedly killed as the Taliban moved through the streets shooting at random. In some cases the Taliban used machine guns mounted on jeeps to fire continuously into the streets. A witness who watched from the roof of a shop described the scene of panic in the city:

From the roof I could see smoke coming from the west. I came out of my shop and went to the customs area from where I could see people fleeing from the west. It was chaos. People were running and being hit by cars trying to leave, market stalls were overturned. I heard oneman say, Its hailing, because of the bullets. I went home and from the windows I could hear shouting and see white flags on the cars.8

A woman described the killing of her thirteen-year-old son:

He was working in a carpet factory and was shot on the first day near Rouza-e Mubarak [the shrine in the center of Mazar]. Some people came and told me he had been taken to the hospital. They said that before he died he said, "We came to Mazar [from Kabul] to survive and now I am going to die. Who will support the family?" I did not even see him. I did not want to leave because of him, but we had to leave.

A man who was in the bazaar when the Taliban entered the city hid in a friend's house from which he could see the Taliban come into the bazaar.

At about 4:00 p.m. I saw someone running and another man pulling a cart. A Datsun full of Taliban came down the street, and the soldier inside shot the man who was running and then went after the second man and shot him, too.

Human Rights Watch obtained testimony from a number of other residents who witnessed indiscriminate and arbitrary shooting by the Taliban. A merchant stated that he was in the bazaar when the shooting started. He was with a cousin, and when they saw people running they decided to run as well. The cousin was shot in the leg and could not walk. Unable to carry him, the merchant left him and continued on to his home. He later learned that the Taliban had killed his cousin. A moneychanger witnessed the killing of two of his neighbors as they stood in the street. He had gone upstairs in his house and was watching out the window as the Taliban cars passed. His two neighbors were standing in front of their house when two of the Taliban cars stopped and the soldiers inside shot the two men.

Searches and Summary Executions

The shooting, which had been nearly continuous since 10:30 a.m., had largely ceased by midday on August 8, and except for sporadic outbreaks of gunfire, the city fell silent. Later that day and continuing for at least several days after, Taliban forces began house-to-house searches for male members of the Hazara, Tajik and Uzbek communities. On the basis of information apparently provided by local Pashtun forces or other informers, they targeted predominantly Hazara neighborhoods and in some cases knew beforehand which houses belonged to Hazaras. They were also looking for weapons. Witnesses testified that the soldiers specifically demanded to know if there were Hazaras present in the houses and asked residents to point out Hazara houses. Residents who could speak Pashto, or who did not look Hazara, or who could prove that they were not from Mazar could sometimes convince the Taliban not to search the house. Those conducting the searches included regular Taliban forces as well as Balkh Pashtuns.

In some cases the detained male members of the families were beaten or shot on the spot. Some had their throats slit. In other cases they were taken to assembly points from which they were transported by truck or other vehicle to the city jail. While most of those killed were Hazara, Human Rights Watch interviewed a number of witnesses who saw or knew of executions of Tajik and Uzbek men as well.

A Tajik man who was detained on August 10 provided this description:

I lived in Karte Bokhti. On the third day the Taliban surrounded the streets and searched every house looking for Hazaras. They were asking, "Where are the Hazara houses?" Therewas only one near us. There were four young Hazara men in the house, including a friend who was visiting and a young man who was doing some work at the house. The Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazaras in the neighborhood were also all arrested. We were all put into trucks, but the four Hazaras hands were tied very tight and they were taken elsewhere. There were two other Hazara boys in our truck. When we stopped near the customs area, the two Hazaras were taken off and told to go to the square behind the customs area. A Taliban soldier pushed them and then shot them both in the head. I was told later that the four others were taken to Takhaneya Mahdia and shot there. They were all workers, not fighters. They were all nineteen to twenty years old.

He was held overnight with other Tajiks and Uzbeks in a place behind the customs area. The next day he and the others were taken to the jail. After he was released, he saw another victim of a summary execution, this time a Tajik.

I saw that a young Tajik boy had been killedthe Taliban soldier was still standing there, and the father was crying, Why have you killed my son? We are Tajiks. The Talib responded, Why didnt you say so? and the father said, Did you ask that I could answer?

One witness recounted that on August 13 or 14 the Taliban came to his house and stated that they were looking for Hazaras. The witness was himself Hazara and was hiding a Hazara family in his house at that time. A neighbor who could speak Pashto told the Taliban that there were no Hazaras there, and as soon as they heard Pashto, they left. Fearing that he might still be identified, the witness went to a predominantly Sunni neighborhood, but residents there warned him not to stay there. In his own neighborhood, a Taliban supporter who owed the witness a favor also warned him to leave, and other neighbors expressed fear that his presence there would endanger the whole neighborhood. As a result, he decided to leave for Pakistan with his family.

Another witness told Human Rights Watch that he was arrested on the evening of the first day as he was moving about the city checking on relatives. As he passed a truck filled with men who had been arrested, the Taliban called out for him to come to them. He was put into the truck and when it was filled they drove toward the jail.

I was afraid they were going to shoot me. So when we reached Sarake Dostum I threw myself out of the truck. Five or six other men threw themselves out after me. I landed on the right side of the road where there was a mosque. I ran into the mosque and began to wash as if I was preparing to pray. The other men all landed on the left side of the road and were shot there in the street. I stayed inside the mosque for more than an hour and left with the others when they finished their prayers.

He did not return to his home but stayed with friends. About a week after the Taliban had come he heard that they had said that Hazaras who were not fighters could return to their homes. Two families he knew went back and the men were arrested that day.

A seventeen-year-old boy who was trying to reach his house at about noon on the first day saw three Hazaras standing at the eastern gate of Rouza Sharif. He stated that seven or eight Taliban stepped out of a Toyota Hilux and shot the three men in the head. The boy, his mother, and his siblings left the Karte Ariana neighborhood the next day for the mountains.

Another witness who lived in the Karte Ariana neighborhood stated that the Taliban came to their house on the second day. In this case the Taliban were local Pashtuns from Chohar Bolak working under a commander named Mulla Baradar. The witnesss husband and daughters were hiding in the basement.

There were about five or six of them. They broke the television and demanded weapons andcommunications equipment. I told them that we only had one Kalashnikov, and I gave it to them and they left. Five minutes later they came back and said, "You are Hazara. Give us your husband." I told them he was not at home. I was yelling at them, and they did not search the house. Then we all left.

A woman who lived in Kamaz camp, where persons who had fled Kabul and other cities were living, stated that a large number of Taliban came searching for men at the camp the first day. Most of the men were beaten and then taken away, but some were shot on the spot.

From one tent they took six boys. They were all seventeen, eighteen, or twenty years old. They just shot them dead in front of the tent. The bodies lay there for four days until the women could finally bury them.

A medical student testified that the Taliban also searched the hospital looking for Hazaras.

I saw two Hazara boys, one about thirteen years old and one about twenty. One had a broken arm. The Taliban wanted to take them away, but the director intervened. But they came back the next day and took them.

One witness stated that he saw bodies that had been left in the citys cemeteries.

We passed by the cemetery at Dasht-e-Shour. The cemetery is along the main road. There are also shops along the road. These shops were built with the dirt taken in the same area. So there are many holes left along the road. All these holes were filled with bodies.

As he was preparing to leave Mazar he witnessed one execution.

The morning we left, with one friend, in Darvazeye Taj-Korghan, it was around 7:00 a.m., a few shops were open. We saw one Hazara porter moving flour and rice for someone. Some Taliban were having breakfast in the Arefan hotel. They saw him and shot him immediately. The owner of the flour and rice was frightened. One Talib told him, Take your belongings and go. This man was a Hazara. Along the way the Taliban were looking for Hazaras. Soldiers asked me if I were Hazara. My friend said, He is not Hazara, he is Pushtun. They believed him and did not stop us.

Witnesses also reported seeing bodies in a number of areas in the city, some with their hands tied behind their backs with their turbans. A large number were reportedly taken to some of the citys cemeteries. One man told Human Rights Watch that he accompanied a neighbor who was searching for the body of her husband who had been taken away the first night. After looking at twenty bodies they stopped because she said she could not look anymore. When relatives attempted to retrieve bodies or bury the dead, they were stopped by the Taliban, who told them that the bodies had to lie on the streets "until the dogs ate them," as had happened to Taliban soldiers killed in the city in 1997. Dozens of civilians were reportedly executed at the tomb of a Hazara leader Abdul Ali Mazari, who was killed while in Taliban custody in 1995. Although some residents buried bodies in secret, most bodies remained on the street for several days until the smell and the fear of health problems persuaded Taliban officials to permit burials.

In the Jail

According to witnesses who had been detained there, the central jail in Mazar-i Sharif has only one well for drinking water and two toilets. After the Taliban arrived in Mazar they reportedly released some hundreds of prisoners held in the jail and began to fill it with men arrested during their search operations. Witnesses interviewed by Human Rights Watch reported that the jail quickly became extremely crowded: there were so many in the jail that there wasno room for anyone to lie down.


As the Taliban were detaining men throughout the city, relatives of the detainees, women and children for the most part, gathered outside the jail and outside the governor's headquarters to plead for the release of relatives. In some cases they waited all day in the heat without receiving any information. Witnesses reported that Taliban troops surrounding the jail would occasionally beat those gathered there with whips.9 Children were occasionally allowed in to bring food to their relatives, but no other visitors were permitted to speak with the detainees.

A Tajik witness who was detained told Human Rights Watch:

Some of the prisoners were beaten, mostly Hazaras. They were tied up and made to lie face down and then the Taliban would beat them with cables. The Taliban were telling everyone to surrender their arms and tell them where they could find Hazaras. They said, "If you hand over a Hazara, we will let you go."

He was held for three days. Taliban officials at the jail, who were reportedly all non-local "mainstream" Taliban, separated the prisoners on the basis of ethnicity; Hazaras and other Shi'as were kept on one side, Uzbeks and Tajiks on the other. Some detainees were forced to help identify members of different ethnic groups. In some cases the authorities required the detainees to prove that they were Sunni by reciting a Sunni prayer. Many of the Uzbeks, Tajiks, Turkmen, and the few Pashtuns there were released after someone came and vouched for them.

As the jail filled, large numbers of prisoners were transferred to other prisons in Afghanistan, principally in Shiberghan, Herat and Qandahar. The vehicles used to transport the prisoners were large metal container trucks which were twenty to forty feet in length. Witnesses estimated that the large trucks could hold between one hundred and 150 people packed closely together. At least thirty-five truckloads of prisoners were reportedly transferred from the prison in Mazar. One witness who was detained for several days stated that on at least one occasion, Governor Niazi personally oversaw the process of selecting prisoners for transfer. Another witness reported seeing many such trucks leaving the jail.

I saw containers coming out of the jail every day, several times a day. They were these big Iranian containers, twenty or forty feet long. I saw them regularly because the house we lived in is near the jail. They filled them with people they arrested and left the city.

A Tajik man who had been detained in the prison at the time described how the prisoners were ordered into the trucks:

As the jail filled up they would bring container trucks. It is hard to say exactly who was being put in. They were going to put me in, but I yelled, I am old and Tajikwhat are you doing? It was very hot. People were already very thirsty. They put them inside and closed the doors. It was clear they would not survive ten minutes. I saw this happen once. There were maybe 120 to 150 men inside.

In at least two instances, nearly all of the prisoners inside the trucks died of asphyxiation in the crowded conditions and desert heat by the time the trucks reached Shiberghan, a three-hour drive from Mazar. One witness saw the trucks in Shiberghan:

In Shiberghan, they brought three containers to Bandare-i Ankho, close to the jail. When they opened the door of one truck, only three persons were alive. About 300 were dead. The three were taken to the jail. I could see all this from [where I was sitting]. This was seven days after the takeover. The containers were about twenty feet long. ... I know that there were many dead bodies because the Taliban asked [someone I know] and three Turkmens to go with them to Dasht-e-Leili [a desert site outside Shiberghan]. The Taliban did not want to touch the bodies so the porters took the bodies out of the containers.

From the testimony obtained by Human Rights Watch, it is not clear whether the deaths of the prisoners inside the trucks were intentional. Many other trucks did transport at least the majority of their prisoners without such a result. At the same time, the use of container trucks to punish or kill prisoners reportedly has several precedents in Afghanistan.10 Even if the killings were not intentional, the crowded conditions and extreme heat amounted to cruel and inhumane treatment under customary international humanitarian law, even for those prisoners that survived.

8 The Taliban fly white flags from their vehicles.

9 These whips, which are either those used for controlling donkeys and horses or are refitted lengths of cable, are used by the Taliban's religious police of the Ministry for the Enforcement of Virtue and Suppression of Vice to exact punishment of persons who commit transgressions of the strict dress code or other edicts.

10 Abdul-Rab al-Rasul Sayyaf, head of the Pashtun faction Ittihad-i Islami, reportedly killed Hazara prisoners by locking them in a metal container and then building a fire around it. Malik reportedly dumped a container of Taliban prisoners in the Amu Darya river. While the facts in each case are difficult if not impossible to confirm, such reports have widespread currency, and the events described are treated as precedents and reasons for revenge.

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23-Oct-2005 at 11:38
Hmmm, good and interesting post Bang thanks.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23-Oct-2005 at 12:12
Each of these posts talks about the Taliban killing people, not the entire Pashtun people killing people.

You're stereotyping and wrongly associating the government with the people.

Saddam Hussein gassed Kurds.

Did all Sunni Muslims gas Kurds?
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23-Oct-2005 at 12:50
The Taliban also killed Pashtuns, they may have been Pashtun centred but that is just a mentality and you cannot make sweeping statements on a whole people based on their psychopathic cult driven government.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23-Oct-2005 at 13:34

Bang i never said that i liked the Taliban, which i just for the record i have never been a fan of them. I was just trying to show that you should be thanking the Mujahidin who came to your aid against the Russian. Instead you copy and pasted a whole lot about the Taliban when your orginal point was to show the supposedlly bad nature of the entire Pathan population.

Just curious what ethnicity are you?

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23-Oct-2005 at 20:18
Bang your articles are appreciated. But you've only shown disgust with the taliban. We agree with that. However, you still didn't make the connection as to why you hate the Pashtun so much.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24-Oct-2005 at 05:21

did you guys even read the article?

the ethnic cleansing that took place when taliban took over afghanistan was unbelievable...you had to be there to see it....they shot at anythin that moved on the street for 5 days...we're locked up in our homes....they entered into homes and took away women...and shot the men, children...old men and women on the spot......they systematically massacred non-pashtons...what does that tell you about them?

Ill hate them for as long as I live for killing my relatives and my people. their foot soldiers, their commanders, their political leaders were all pashtons...they did not have a single non-pashton afghan...among them!

and osmanli...mujhaideens consisted of all ethnic groups..not just pathans. Infact it was general dostum who gave the russians the biggest blow by takin over northern afghanistan.

My ethnicity is uzbek but I wouldnt hate other people for no reason...ive a good reason to hate pashtons!



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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24-Oct-2005 at 05:35

Bro, i feel for you i geniunly do, iam Turkish Cypriot. Were if you know the history about us then you will know that the T.Cypriots had to go through a lot too. I know its hard to not be angry angainst a whoe ethnic group but one must try, otherwise conflicts will never end and peace will never be attained.

Hade, kardesim benim soylediklerime yanis anama, senin iyiliginin icin soylerim

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24-Oct-2005 at 05:46

the taliban killed almost anyone from any ethinicity if they did not follow up on their wahhabi view on islam, let it be pashtun or else.

but they also ethnicly cleansed non-pashtuns. specially the persian speakers. like the hazzaris and tajiks.

in one village alone, they took all men, little boys, elder men, and killed them all at site. the village is with out men now. they tried to eliminate that ethnicity.

THE TALIBAN by no way represent the Pashtuns (nor ISLAM),  no way, they were america's creation. and supported by the evil wahhabi saudi bastards and osama bin laden(who was basically the de-facto leader of taliban). and we all know that wahhabis hate shias and persians and who ever is associated with them, led it be uzbeks or baluch.

I hope Afghanistan gets back on its feet, its a great nation with a beautiful land and people. these wars were caused by foreign intereference, those who dont want the afghans to be united.

bang, I'm sorry for your loss. But hating them (all Pashtuns who almost all had nothing to do with what happened) won't get you anywhere and won't bring back your losses.

Try to think of the future, LEARN from people of Rwanda, they basically have forgiven the ones invovled in genocide. and they are trying to move on and spread friendship and brotherhood even after the other ethinicity was terrible to another.



Edited by Persian
Iran = Iran, nothing else
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24-Oct-2005 at 10:52

Persian wrote:

- THE TALIBAN by no way represent the Pashtuns (nor ISLAM),  no way, they were america's creation. and supported by the evil wahhabi saudi bastards and osama bin laden(who was basically the de-facto leader of taliban). and we all know that wahhabis hate shias and persians and who ever is associated with them, led it be uzbeks or baluch.

 

I think the Pakistanis had a bigger connection with the Taliban than the Americans.

"The Taliban emerged as a reformist force -- honest, fierce and devoutly Islamic. Most had gone as refugees to Pakistan, where they studied in the religious schools. The Taliban are widely alleged to be the creation of Pakistan's military intelligence." http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9610/05/taleban/

The Taliban is also a creation of ignorant and closed minded indoctrinations.

 



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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24-Oct-2005 at 11:35
Originally posted by bang

did you guys even read the article?

the ethnic cleansing that took place when taliban took over afghanistan was unbelievable...you had to be there to see it....they shot at anythin that moved on the street for 5 days...we're locked up in our homes....they entered into homes and took away women...and shot the men, children...old men and women on the spot......they systematically massacred non-pashtons...what does that tell you about them?

Ill hate them for as long as I live for killing my relatives and my people. their foot soldiers, their commanders, their political leaders were all pashtons...they did not have a single non-pashton afghan...among them!

and osmanli...mujhaideens consisted of all ethnic groups..not just pathans. Infact it was general dostum who gave the russians the biggest blow by takin over northern afghanistan.

My ethnicity is uzbek but I wouldnt hate other people for no reason...ive a good reason to hate pashtons!

The fact is, we (all Turks around the world) arent enough informated or maybe care-less of ours brothers around the world what they did/do suffer.

EDIT: taliban whas supported by the USf**kingA against sovjets, then later they just invade that country.

 



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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25-Oct-2005 at 12:44
Ya Day f**king Yankees do it all the time.They supported Saddam against Iran n then took over Iraq.
Jai Badri Vishal
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25-Oct-2005 at 19:02
Ok enough with the "US F*cking A"'s  I think we can all be a bit more mature than that.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26-Oct-2005 at 04:51

I dont really know if USA was involved with taliban...but arabs especially saudi arabia & UAE helped them financially and pakistan trained them and also provided air support...espcially in herat...they bombed that city.

Osmanli...yeah I understand what you mean...but taliban were somthing else.

when they came to mazar...the local pashtons suddenly changed..and guided taliban to wealthy uzbeks..tajiks & hazara homes...they did everything they cud to humiliate us.

and persian...they did not kill pashtons in 100s n 1000s. How could they kill their own people? it just doesnt make sense...politically

Anyways enuf said....llets get over this topic...



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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27-Oct-2005 at 06:43
So Bang the topics about Afghan empires, iam guessing Uzbek empires your fave
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28-Oct-2005 at 07:29

Originally posted by OSMANLI

So Bang the topics about Afghan empires, iam guessing Uzbek empires your fave


donno about any history...btw wud love to know about uzbek empires....ofcourse if there was any?...thanks



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