[Nettime-bold] Re: Fleeing Afghans gunned down

["Ivo Skoric" <ivo@reporters.net>]

I wonder whether Taliban include Afghans, that they kill 
themselves, in the lists of civilian casualties that they attribute to 
the American bombing. I mean, could anybody ever prove them 
wrong if they do so? This would make Americans look really bad, 
while at the same time reduce the numbers of those Afghans who 
would dare to oppose Taliban. 
ivo

Makes me think there mihgt someday (unfortunately) be a ICT for central
Asia.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/0111/08/world/world1.html

from the Sydney Mornging Herald


 -    WORLD


Fleeing Afghans gunned down

By Gay Alcorn in Washington and Martin Perry of AFP

The Taliban are slaughtering Afghans who try to flee the country,
gunning them down in cold blood, refugees who have made it to Pakistan
say.

Of a dozen Afghans interviewed, all had tales of random killings, human
rights abuses and persecution. Some told of mass murders.

Ovr Mohd, 65, fled to the hills from Bamiyan to avoid the Taliban. When
he returned he found his three sons shot dead.

Mr Mohd said they were targeted because they were ethnic Hazaras, whose
sympathies lie with the Northern Alliance.

"When we decided to leave Afghanistan we saw the Taliban attacking
people who were fleeing. People were gathering on the road to leave and
they were shot. We have seen this," he said.

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"I saw 50 people in front of me who were killed. They were women,
children and men," Mr Mohd added, claiming the killings happened a
month ago.

About 100,000 Afghans are believed to have crossed the border illegally
since the US began pounding Afghanistan.

They have no identity papers and officially do not exist in Pakistan.
They refuse to move into refugee camps for fear of deportation.
Consequently they receive no help from aid groups.

Saeed Zaman, 35, said he witnessed similar killings in Kabul.

"There is a chowk [roundabout] where the people go when they want to
leave," he said.

"The Taliban are attacking them there. I saw dozens killed [on Friday].
The people were pleading to leave but the Taliban shot them. They left
the bodies where they fell. The animals were eating them."

Faced with criticism from the Arab world and signs of unease in Europe,
President George Bush on Tuesday began a 10-day public offensive to
bolster support for his war in Afghanistan.

He presented a list of charges against the "mad global ambitions" of
the al-Qaeda terrorist network and the Taliban, and signalled that the
US was already looking beyond the military action to other nations that
support terrorists.

Previewing his speech to the United Nations General Assembly on
Saturday, Mr Bush said it was "time for action". Countries that had
expressed support for the war on terrorism would be held accountable,
he said.

"I will put every nation on notice that these duties [to oppose
terrorism] involve more than sympathy or words. No nation can be
neutral in this conflict, because no civilised nation can be secure in
a world threatened by terror."

For the first time, Mr Bush accused Osama bin Laden of seeking
chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, although the Administration
has no evidence that he has them.

He said: "If he doesn't have them, we will work hard to make sure he
doesn't [get them]. Given the means, our enemies would be a threat to
every nation and, eventually, to civilisation itself."

Mr Bush plans a whirlwind of meetings to maintain momentum in the war.
On Tuesday he met the Algerian President, Abdelaziz Boutelflika, and
French President, Jacques Chirac. He was to hold talks with the British
Prime Minister, Tony Blair, yesterday, and Pakistan's President, Pervez
Musharraf, in New York at the weekend.

Meanwhile, waves of US aircraft roared through the night over Kabul,
bombing front-line positions of the Taliban, but the Taliban say their
fighting ability has not been dented.

As the US bombardment continued, the Northern Alliance said it had
moved troops closer to the strategic provincial capital of
Mazar-e-Sharif, in a sign of a possible offensive.

The opposition also says forces loyal to the ethnic Uzbek warlord
General Abdul Rashid Dostum have moved towards Shurgar, a town 60
kilometres from Mazar-e-Sharif.

The anti-Taliban forces say they have also gained ground in Balkh
province bordering Uzbekistan. They claim that 400 Taliban have
defected to their forces.



 - James Newton

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