Afghanistan: Making Human Rights the Agenda

On 27 April 1978 a Marxist-Leninist party, the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), took power in a coup. President Mohammad Daoud Khan, who had himself seized power in 1973 in a coup against the former king, Mohammad Zahir Shah, was killed, along with his immediate family. The PDPA government, headed by President Noor Mohammad Taraki, attempted to suppress opposition to radical social and agrarian reforms through the use of repressive tactics that included the “disappearance” and summary execution of thousands of people. The government’s repressive measures sparked uprisings throughout the country, which were crushed, and drove refugees and armed opponents of the government across the borders into Pakistan and Iran.

On 16 September 1979, the then Prime Minister Hafizullah Amin ousted President Taraki, whose death was subsequently announced. The deteriorating security situation inside the country prompted the Soviet Union to airlift troops to Kabul on 24 December 1979. Three days later, President Amin was killed in a military coup in which Soviet armed forces were involved. He was replaced as President and as General Secretary of the PDPA by Babrak Karmal.

Resistance by armed opposition groups, collectively known as the Mujahideen, expanded greatly in response to the Soviet invasion. Mujahideen forces based in Pakistan were supported principally by the USA, which provided sophisticated weaponry and other support through Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency. The Soviet armed forces fighting in support of the PDPA government grew to some 115,000 troops. In their efforts to crush the Mujahideen, the Afghan government and Soviet forces engaged in massive human rights violations, including widespread torture and executions. They also reportedly carried out indiscriminate aerial bombardments in the countryside. By 1989, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that more than five and a half million Afghans were refugees.

Thousands of political prisoners were detained throughout the period of Soviet occupation. Among these were prisoners of conscience held for advocating non-violent opposition to the government and peace negotiations, held without charge or convicted after unfair trials with no right to defence or right to appeal. Political prisoners were held in security police detention centres, paramilitary police headquarters, and sometimes Soviet military posts. They were accused of “counter-revolutionary” activities or sympathies and were routinely subjected to torture and ill-treatment during interrogation, including beatings, electric shocks, burning with cigarettes and sleep deprivation. More than 8,000 people were allegedly executed between 1980 and 1988 after unfair trials. Many thousands “disappeared”, especially between 1978 and 1979. Following a general amnesty declared in January 1987, thousands of political prisoners were released.

Anti-government groups also carried out torture and executions, including the alleged beheading of captured government and Soviet soldiers, and of civilians accused of supporting the government, after “trials” by these armed groups.

Some improvement in the human rights situation was noticeable between 1987 and early 1992, but gross human rights abuses continued to be committed by both sides to the conflict. The Geneva accords to settle the Afghan conflict were signed by the governments of Afghanistan, the Soviet Union, the USA and Pakistan and led to the withdrawal of all Soviet troops by February 1989. However, civil war continued as the Mujahideen pushed to overthrow the Afghan government led by President Najibullah.

The death penalty was still in use, and torture and ill-treatment of detainees continued in security police interrogation centres, in prisons and at military posts.

In 1990 dozens of people were said to have been extrajudicially executed following a coup attempt against President Najibullah’s government, and hundreds arrested.

Mujahideen groups reportedly detained, ill-treated and killed people they suspected of links with the government or rival Mujahideen groups. Hundreds of prisoners were said to have been held by Mujahideen groups, many of them civilians abducted during fighting. Scores of captured government soldiers and civilians were killed. In Mujahideen-controlled areas, local Islamic courts handed out sentences of death.

Mujahideen groups were also reported to have carried out abductions of foreign aid workers, and prominent Afghan opposition figures living in Pakistan were reported to have been abducted and killed.

In March 1992 President Najibullah agreed to step down as part of a UN-brokered process to pave the way for a transitional coalition government. Before the plan could be implemented, disaffected militia forces that had been allied with the government entered into negotiations with northern non-Pushtun Mujahideen forces that included Jamiat-e Islami, Hizb-e Wahdat, and a primarily Uzbek militia force under General Abdul Rashid Dostum. On the night President Najibullah was to leave Kabul, these forces took control of the airport, preventing Najibullah from leaving the country. Najibullah took refuge in the UN compound in Kabul, where he remained for four years until he was captured and executed by the Taleban.

On 25 April 1992 the northern Mujahideen alliance took power in Kabul. Sebghatollah Mojaddedi became President of the Islamic State of Afghanistan for two months, followed by Borhanuddin Rabbani, head of Jamiat-e Islami. In December 1992, a council (shura) that was dominated by supporters of Borhanuddin Rabbani elected him as President for a two-year term, but he stayed in power until he was driven out of Kabul by the Taleban in 1996. Borhanuddin Rabbani remains the President of the Islamic State of Afghanistan, which continues to hold the Afghanistan seat at the UN.

The government of Borhanuddin Rabbani initiated changes to bring the legal and social systems into conformity with local interpretations of Islamic law. The Deputy Minister of Justice announced that punishments such as amputation of feet or hands, flogging and stoning to death would be introduced. Vigilante groups were reported to have carried out such punishments, apparently believing that they were acting according to official policies. While political prisoners detained by the previous government were released, Mujahideen groups imprisoned political opponents, including members of the previous government and members of rival factions, sometimes in secret detention centres. They reportedly tortured and killed many of their opponents in detention centres.

The Mujahideen alliance was riven by infighting; within months, the parties had begun to battle among themselves for control of Kabul. With no effective central government, lawlessness and fighting between rival armed groups spread across most of the country and the civilian population was subjected to widespread human rights abuses. Thousands of civilians were killed in the fighting, which reportedly included indiscriminate shelling of houses, hospitals and mosques, particularly in Kabul. Members of rival ethnic groups were frequently targeted by various armed groups. In 1994, hundreds of thousands of civilians were displaced. Throughout much of 1994, the forces of then Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and General Abdul Rashid Dostum enforced a food blockade around Kabul, keeping international food aid from reaching the population, many of whom were reportedly at risk of starvation.

Armed groups acting with total impunity reportedly carried out killings, arbitrary detention and torture (including rape) of unarmed civilians suspected of supporting rival groups or on ethnic grounds. Local warlords established their own administrations in areas under their control. In some areas, Islamic courts sentenced individuals to death after unfair trials; it was reported that those tried were in some cases not given the right to appeal or to seek clemency.

Widespread infighting among the various armed groups saw the emergence of the Taleban in late 1994. Disaffected Mujahideen joined forces with Mullah Muhammad Omar, a former fighter with the Khalis faction of Hezb-e Islami, to disarm local warlords around Kandahar.

Who are the Taleban?

The Taleban emerged in 1994 as a group that coalesced around Mullah Muhammad Omar to disarm local warlords in Kandahar province. The group included former members of different factions who were disillusioned with the widespread insecurity and the failure of the Mujahideen who had overthrown the government in 1992 to establish an Islamic state. Because most of the core group had been trained in madrasas run by religious parties in Pakistan, they called themselves taleban, which means students. These Taleban were joined by other fighters from different factions, including foreign fighters from Saudi Arabia, North Africa and elsewhere. Many former Communists were integrated in the Taleban ranks. Combatants of the Taleban and of al-qa’ida appear to be part of the same military force, as there has been a degree of structural integration.

The Taleban are predominantly ethnic Pushtuns; their core leadership is from Kandahar province. In April 1996, Mullah Muhammad Omar was elected by a congregation of Muslim clergymen as the amir-ul momineen and in October 1997 Afghanistan was renamed the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. From their southern power-base, the Taleban took control of large parts of the country between 1994 and 1996, when they captured Kabul. By October 2001, the Taleban were reported to control over 90 per cent of Afghanistan, although large pockets of central Afghanistan as well as the northeast were under the control of the United Front. Pakistan, which has provided the Taleban with considerable military assistance, is the only country that currently recognizes the Taleban’s Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan as the government of Afghanistan. Saudi Arabia and the UAE withdrew recognition following the 11 September 2001 attacks in the USA.

Who are the anti-Taleban alliance?

The National Islamic United Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan (United Front) includes many of the parties that formerly belonged to a coalition called the Northern Alliance; the United Front is still commonly referred to as the Northern Alliance. The leadership of the United Front is predominantly non-Pushtun; it is composed of ethnic Uzbeks, Tajiks and Hazaras. As of October 2001, factions allied with the United Front controlled territory in northern and central Afghanistan. The United Front includes commanders who fought against Soviet and Afghan government forces before 1992, and those who held positions of power in the various governments and armed opposition groups that controlled territory and population during the civil war that followed. The alliance combines groups that have previously fought one another.

The United Front supports the government of the Islamic State of Afghanistan, headed by Borhanuddin Rabbani, which was formed in 1992 and continues to hold the Afghanistan seat at the UN.

While the membership of the United Front changes over time, the following groups are thought to be currently members of the alliance:

Jamiat-e Islami (Society of Islam) – one of the first Sunni Islamic parties, it was established in the 1970s. The leadership is predominantly Tajik. Prominent figures in Jamiat-e Islami include President Borhanuddin Rabbani and Ismael Khan, the former Governor of Herat. Ahmad Shah Masood, who was assassinated on 9 September 2001, was the military commander of the United Front, Defence Minister of the ISA and also headed a group called the Shura-e Nezar Shomal (Supervisory Council of the North).

Hezb-e Wahdat Islami (Party of Islamic Unity) – formed from eight Shi’a parties in anticipation of the collapse of the pro-communist government. Hezb-e Wahdat Islami, which is currently led by Muhammad Karim Khalili, is primarily supported by members of the Hazara ethnic community.

Jonbesh-e Melli Islami (National Islamic Movement) – a predominantly northern, Uzbek group led by General Abdul Rashid Dostum, who formerly led a powerful militia under President Najibullah.

Harekat-e Islami (Islamic Movement) – a Shi’a party led by Sheikh Asif Mohseni.

Ittehad-e Islami (Islamic Alliance) – a Sunni, Pashtun group led by Abdul Rasool Sayyaf.

The group included former students who had studied in madrasas run by Pakistani religious parties for Afghan refugees in Pakistan, fighters from other Mujahideen factions, and non-Afghan fighters from Arab states, North Africa and elsewhere.

By the end of 1994, the Taleban had taken control of at least seven of Afghanistan’s 30 provinces. With substantial military support from Pakistan, the Taleban’s military campaign progressed quickly throughout 1995. The Taleban took control of Herat in 1995 and captured Kabul in 1996. During this time, Amnesty International received reports that Taleban forces were committing serious human rights abuses in many of the areas where they controlled populations and territory.

The war continued, with the groups opposing the Taleban aligned as the United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan (United Front). Following further Taleban advances in the north in 1998, particularly the capture of Mazar-e Sharif in August 1998, the United Front was pushed to the northeast of Afghanistan. During this period, the Taleban was responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law, reported to include direct attacks against civilians and civilian objects, indiscriminate bombings, reprisal killings of civilians, summary executions of prisoners, and torture including rape. The United Front forces also committed serious abuses, including summary executions.

Heavy fighting in late 2000 and 2001 exacerbated the already severe humanitarian crisis caused by a prolonged drought throughout much of the country. Between the summer of 2000 and 10 September 2001, nearly one million people had reportedly joined the ranks of those already internally displaced within Afghanistan; many were uprooted because of the drought.

Through early 2001, humanitarian organizations were struggling to meet the needs of the displaced; deaths from exposure, malnutrition and disease particularly among children and the elderly, were reported throughout the year. After 11 September, the anticipated US response further increased the number of internally displaced to an estimated total of 1.1 million. The World Food Programme estimates the vulnerable population inside Afghanistan in desperate need of aid to be six million people.

At the start of 2001, according to UNHCR estimates, 1.5 million Afghan refugees were living in Iran and two million Afghan refugees were living in Pakistan. Pakistan, Iran and Tajikistan had put in place measures to stop or restrict new Afghan refugees in late 2000, and had taken steps to press refugees to return. Following the 11 September events, the threat of a mass influx of refugees led Iran and Pakistan to close their borders with Afghanistan, while Tajikistan maintained the closure of its border with Afghanistan. Nevertheless, UNHCR has been preparing for a projected influx of additional Afghan refugees into the neighbouring countries: one million in Pakistan, 400,000 in Iran, 50,000 in Tajikistan, 50,000 in Turkmenistan, and up to 10,000 in Uzbekistan.

In mid-October 2001, it was reported that several thousand refugees had reached Pakistan despite the closure of the main border-post.

Thousands of civilians have reportedly been killed in massacres, and possibly hundreds in indiscriminate attacks by Taleban forces. In one of the largest massacres of the war, in the days after the Taleban took the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif in August 1998, Taleban guards are reported to have systematically killed thousands of ethnic Hazara civilians in their homes or on the streets. Some groups were reportedly executed in locations between Mazar-e Sharif and Hairatan. Many civilians, including women, children and the elderly were killed in bombardments while trying to flee the city.

The Taleban have reportedly forcibly displaced civilian populations from the Shomali plains (in 1999), Bamiyan (in 1999), and Takhar province (in 2000).

Thousands of prisoners, many of them prisoners of conscience, have been held without charge or trial, most of them members of ethnic minority groups held by the Taleban on suspicion of supporting the anti-Taleban alliance. There are reports of the use of torture during detention in areas controlled by the Taleban. In August 1998, more than 100 people who were held as prisoners reportedly suffocated to death inside metal containers while being transferred from Mazar-e Sharif to Shebarghan.

The Taleban have promulgated official edicts that severely restrict women in virtually all areas of life, including the rights to freedom of movement, expression, association and assembly, as well as the rights to education, health care and work. The edicts are not always enforced in rural areas; primary schools for girls have functioned in many Taleban-controlled areas outside large urban centres. However, in rural areas local cultural practices have long restricted women’s rights. The Taleban edicts are generally enforced in urban areas, strictly limiting women’s movement and activities. Discriminatory regulations are enforced through cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment. Strict restriction of access to education, work and health care have had disastrous consequences, particularly for urban, educated Afghan women in areas under Taleban control.

The procedures of Taleban Shari'a courts fall short of international standards of fair trial. Defendants do not have the right to have a lawyer, there is no presumption of innocence, and there are few opportunities for appeal. These courts have regularly imposed floggings and amputations and other punishments amounting to cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment or torture for offences such as theft, drinking alcohol or pre-marital sexual intercourse. Crimes that carry the death penalty include murder, working with the opposition, sodomy, and adultery. Methods of execution include shooting, hanging, slitting the throat, and stoning. During 2000, at least 15 people were executed in public, including one woman who was stoned to death. In January 2001, the Taleban issued an edict declaring that any Muslim converting to another faith or promoting another religion would face the death penalty.

In June 2001, the Taleban announced that Hindus living in areas under their control would be required to wear distinctive clothing or other markers, which would put them at risk of discrimination and persecution. Amnesty International’s understanding is that this measure has not been enforced.

To Amnesty International's knowledge the Taleban have taken no action systematically to bring perpetrators of serious human rights abuses to justice.

United Front forces have reportedly killed, imprisoned and abused civilians on the basis of their ethnic identity or affiliation with the Taleban.

Over 20 mass graves were discovered in 1997 near the city of Shebarghan in the northern province of Jowzjan. The exact number of those buried in the graves could not be established, but most reports put the number at more than 2,000. The dead are believed to include Taleban soldiers taken prisoner and then killed in May-June 1997 by the forces of General Abdul Malik, a commander with Jonbesh-e Melli Islami who turned against General Dostum to assist the Taleban, and then switched sides once they had entered Mazar-e Sharif. Hezb-e Wahdat forces also reportedly took part in the killings.

Other executions have been carried out by United Front forces. For example, in December 2000, six prisoners were executed in the area controlled by the United Front. They were arrested on 4 December, hours after Abdullah Jan Wahedi, a United Front commander and governor of Laghman Province, was shot dead in an ambush. The prisoners were executed by forces under the command of Ahmad Shah Masood within 40 hours of their arrest. In July 2000, it was reported that a spokesman for the United Front had announced that non-Afghan volunteers captured while fighting alongside the Taleban would be court-martialled as spies and possibly executed.

Torture by United Front forces has also been reported. The body of Hemayatollah Hamed Akhundzada, one of the prisoners executed by the United Front administration of Ahmad Shah Masood on 6 December 2000, reportedly bore visible marks of torture. While regaining control of the Bamiyan area in April and May 1999, United Front forces severely beat newly settled people from the Pushtun ethnic group. Fighters from the Hezb-e Wahdat group briefly gained control of Yakaolang district in April 1999. They reportedly beat people suspected of collaborating with the Taleban, arbitrarily detained dozens of civilians, and ill-treated their relatives.

To Amnesty International's knowledge, the United Front has taken no action systematically to bring perpetrators of serious human rights abuses to justice.