US rapped for backing warlord

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
1

What kinda law and order has been maintained by these US puppets in Afghanistan? They are guilty of torture and abuse as much as the Taliban were before them, if not worse. What is the US trying to achieve in Afghanistan besides using it as a parking lot for its military? These warlords existed for decades and will not go away. Which warlord will have the US backing next after their romance with this Tajik warlord is over with?

**US rapped for backing warlord **

There has been criticism of the United States-led coalition for continuing to support an Afghan warlord who activists say is the enemy of human rights.

Khan is known among the locals as ‘Emir of Herat’

The criticism stems from a report by the lobby group, Human Rights Watch, which focused on the power wielded by Ismail Khan, who controls the north-western province of Herat.

According to the report, Ismail Khan has created a mini-state in Herat - a closed society without room for dissent, independent opinion or personal freedoms.

The report criticises the international community for complicity in building the power of regional military commanders whose human rights records, it argues, rival the worst Taleban commanders.

‘Climate of fear’

It says that at the same time American military forces have maintained relationships with warlords which undercut efforts to strengthen the authority of the government in Kabul.

Overall, the researchers conclude that the human rights situation in the country remains grim, despite the demise of the Taleban.

In reference to Herat, the group describes a climate of fear where arbitrary arrests, torture and violence are commonplace, particularly targeting the province’s Pashtun minority.

It calls for the expansion of the International Security Assistance Forc (Isaf) beyond the capital, Kabul, intoMoreover, it calls on the US to exert its influence and adopt a peacekeeping role in the regions to help protect those Afghans who are most at risk from the current regime.

**[Group Reports Rights Abuses by Afghan Governor](Yahoo News: Latest and Breaking News, Headlines, Live Updates, and More tmpl=story2&cid=564&ncid=564&e=43&u=/nm/20021105/ts_nm/afgha
_usa_rights_dc_1) **

“The United States and Iran have a great deal of influence over Ismail Khan,” said Sifton. “They put him where he is today. They now have a responsibility to make him clean up his act.”

Ismail Khan has personally ordered some of the politically motivated arrests and beatings, which have been carried out with thorny branches, sticks, cables and rifle butts, Human Rights Watch said.

The group said the most serious instances of torture involved hanging detainees upside down, whipping them and using electric shocks.

Members of the Pashtun ethnic group have been specially targeted for abuse, the report said.

2

“Ismail Khan and his followers - their hands are bloody. For them, killing a bird is the same as killing a man” - words of a resident of Herat

Nuggets of info. from the HRW report involved in this issue:

  • Earlier this year, US Defense Secretary Rumsfeld visited Ismail Khan during a visit to Herat on 29 April 2002, and afterward to reporters described the warlord as… “an appealing person”; “thoughtful, measured and self-confident”.

  • A few behavioural characteristics of this “thoughtful” and “appealing” warlord:
    i. Ismail Khan’s armed forces and agents have made explicit threats to, arrested, harassed, and beaten members of political, civic, media, professional, and cultural groups

ii. Political opponents - including elderly men old enough to be our grandfathers - are regularly beaten with “hard thorny sticks”, leaving them scars that last - at least in one instance - upto ten months

iii. One sixty year old man, identified only as “Barez” in HRW’s report, was grabbed by the throat and choked by Ismail Khan’s son, pushed on the floor, at which point the “thoughtful” warlord stated, “It cannot be done like this, this is not enough”, so thoughtfully proceeded to hit him with the branches of a pomegranate tree (“a sturdy stick with thick sharp thorns”) especially on the side of his torso, cutting him severely; troops then kicked 60-year-old Barez in the side; at some point during the violence, Barez lost consciousness. Why? All because Barez supported king Zafar Shah and not Ismail Khan.

For how long will the US admin. tolerate such acts from the Emir of Herat? For God’s sake, if you state you are not going to abandon a country and will bring peace and stability to it, then bloody well act on your pledges; it’s the SAME mistake that has been repeated numerous times in the past. When will Bush ever learn?

3

Don't forget the increase in heroin production.

4

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by 2bornot2b: *
Don't forget the increase in heroin production.
[/QUOTE]

Yes, a whopping 1400%. What a 'great' achievment of the 'war on terror'. Now we hear that regimne change in Afghnistan means the US coddling up to even worse war criminals and mudering warlords as in this case.

5

Can some please help me out? I was wondering about how much of the poppy crop has decreased so far. Also how is life better for the average afghani. I know women can go to college. But can they get food? Can they work? Can they protect themselves from the warlords? Is there any control over the country? Can Karzai step outside of Kabul without being attacked?

6

The Poppy crop has increased 1400% in the last year, the warlords are in control and committing grave human rights abuses, but the US still backs them. Is that the American idea of peace and stability, let alone freedom for the people of Afghanistsan?

7

Lets cut Bush some slack here, I mean dont just blame him. Poor fellow may not have even heard of Afghanistan before September last year. The guys around him, running the show for him, e.g Dick Cheney and his dad's former sidekicks are much to blame for where this country is headed and what its foreign policy stands for :D

8

So many of those within the peace-keepers umbrella are switched-turban-colours taliban. The name escapes my mind but the huge, brute looking warlord who was in charge of many of the battles, Gul? something or another...

At the time of the debacle i read he once punished a soldier for stealing by having him tied to tank tracks and then some lucky mug got to drive around. Gross. Someone who saw the scene said the courtyard was littered with human flesh, not surprisingly.

Slaps bang in the middle of the word 'justice'.

9

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by 5Abi: *
Lets cut Bush some slack here, I mean dont just blame him. Poor fellow may not have even heard of Afghanistan before September last year. The guys around him, running the show for him, e.g Dick Cheney and his dad's former sidekicks are much to blame for where this country is headed and what its foreign policy stands for :D
[/QUOTE]

If Bush does not know that his forces are supporting a warlord who is guilty of grave human rights abuses, then what does he know?