[Cerchio] Americani come i nazisti

Conditions for jailed Taliban 'like Auschwitz'
By Justin Huggler
14 May 2002
Thousands of former Taliban fighters are being held prisoner by a US =
ally in Afghanistan in conditions that resemble Auschwitz, a European =
Union envoy said yesterday.

In the prison at Shebarghan, in northern Afghanistan, Klaus-Peter =
Klaiber, the EU's envoy, came face to face with the reality of the war =
in Afghanistan.

"The people have nothing on their bones any more," Mr Klaiber told the =
Agence France Presse news agency. "They are being treated like cattle, =
crammed into tents. The kitchen, you cannot imagine. There were =
ghost-like figures just stirring soup."

More than 2,000 former Taliban fighters are held at the camp in =
Shebarghan, the main base of General Abdul Rashid Dostum, one of the =
most powerful warlords in Afghanistan and an important US ally in the =
war against the Taliban.

Controversy about prisoners in General Dostum's care is nothing new. In =
November last year, at least 150 non-Afghan Taliban volunteers being =
held by General Dostum's forces were killed when America reacted to a =
prison revolt by ordering air strikes on the Qalai Janghi fortress in =
Mazar-i-Sharif where the prisoners were penned.

Like the fighters who died in Qalai Janghi, many of the 2,000 men being =
held at Shebarghan were captured at the end of the siege of Kunduz, =
among the last two Taliban strongholds in Afghanistan. The Independent =
was refused entry to the prison in Shebarghan in November last year, but =
Mr Klaiber was more successful. What he found was horrifying. Concern =
has been expressed about the condition of captured Taliban being held at =
an American base on Cuba, but Guantanamo is nothing to Shebarghan.

The men being held there are being fed on thin soup, and some 400 are so =
malnourished they are being given emergency rations from the Red Cross. =
Some are held in rooms only 1.5 metres square.

The prisoners at Shebarghan are ethnic Pashtuns, who dominated the =
Taliban. Now Afghanistan's other ethnic groups, including General =
Dostum's Uzbeks, are wreaking their revenge, often on innocent =
civilians, women and children. The US and its allies have done nothing =
to stop it, and continue to claim the war has made life better for =
ordinary Afghans.

Mr Klaiber called for urgent action yesterday, apparently suggesting =
Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan's interim prime minister, who is a Pashtun, =
could intervene. But Mr Karzai's authority does not extend to =
Shebarghan, where General Dostum rules the roost. Mr Karzai and the =
interim government rule only in Kabul, and there only by the grace of =
Western peace-keepers. Some of the prisoners at Shebarghan are =
Pakistanis. They may be the lucky ones: talks are under way on =
repatriating them. More than 200 Pakistani prisoners flew home over the =
weekend. A spokesman for General Dostum said: "This is not the time to =
ask for funds for the prison. We need funds for schools and hospitals." =
He suggested the general might be amenable to freeing most of the =
prisoners.

Many Afghans are starving to death outside the prison walls. This is a =
country where people eat grass to stay alive, where people are so poor =
they sell their children. Promises of aid from the West have not =
materialised, now that Afghanistan is out of the news.

* American special forces have killed five suspected al-Qa'ida or =
Taliban militants and detained 32 others in response to being shot at =
during a raid in Dehrawd near Kandahar, southern Afghanistan, military =
officials said yesterday.=20


VAMPIRE SHADOW - FRANZ


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