US-backed warlords threaten peace in Afghanistan, claims report

Afghan warlords and political strongmen supported by the US and other nations are "engendering a climate of fear" in Afghanistan that could derail national elections scheduled for mid-2004, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today.

The report warns that violence, political intimidation, and attacks on women and girls are discouraging political participation and endangering gains made on women's rights in Afghanistan over the last year, the group says.

The situation has deteriorated to such an extent that Human Rights Watch has called on the UN to increase its human rights monitoring and protection efforts through the deployment of "significant numbers" of UN human rights officers around the country.

"Human rights abuses in Afghanistan are being committed by gunmen and warlords who were propelled into power by the United States and its coalition partners after the Taliban fell in 2001," said Brad Adams, executive director of the Asia Division of Human Rights Watch.

"These men and others have essentially hijacked the country outside of Kabul. With less than a year to go before national elections, Afghanistan's human rights situation appears to be worsening."

The 101-page report, 'Killing You is a Very Easy Thing for Us: Human Rights Abuses in Southeast Afghanistan', also documents alleged incidents of army and police: kidnapping Afghans and holding them for ransom in unofficial prisons; breaking into households and robbing families; raping women, girls and boys; and extorting shopkeepers and bus, truck and taxi drivers.

And because soldiers are targeting women and girls, many are staying indoors, especially in rural areas, making it impossible for them to attend school, go to work, or actively participate in the country's reconstruction, the report claims.

"The fact is that most girls in Afghanistan are still not in school," said Mr Adams. "In many cases, returning refugee families who sent their girls to school in Pakistan or Iran are afraid to do the same in Afghanistan."

Human Rights Watch says that the testimony of victims and witnesses implicates soldiers and police under the command of many high-level military and political officials in Afghanistan. "These include Mohammad Qasim Fahim, the Minister of Defense; Hazrat Ali, the military leader of the Eastern Region; Younis Qanooni, the Minister of Education; Burhanuddin Rabbani, the former president of Afghanistan; and Abdul Rabb al-Rasul Sayyaf, a powerful former mujahidin leader to whom many of the officials involved in the documented abuses in Kabul city and province remain loyal," the report states.

The report also claims that political organisers, journalists and media editors are being threatened with death, arrested and harassed by army, police and intelligence agents.

(GMcG)