Emission of June 6, 2003

MASSACRE IN AFGHANISTAN (feb 2003)

Realisation: Jamie Doran                  
Production: Atlantic Celtic Films   http://www.acftv.com/default.asp

Clip of the film here => massacre

(babelfish translation from french)

All starts in November 2001, in a collar of mountain, close to the town of Kunduz in the north of Afghanistan, when soldiers talibans agree to go after having received the insurance that them no evil would be made. Here first images of their rendering. A few days later, more than 4000 of them will have disappeared, they will have died for the majority. They were massacred by closest allied Afghan to the Americans. But which was the role of the Americans themselves?

The area of Mazar-3rd Charif, in the North-West of Afghanistan, was the theatre of the most crucial battles of the war. It was necessary to make fall Mazar to arrive then to Kabul. Afterwards of heats fights, it is made thing. The two large winners in this area are rival lords of war, Mohammed Atta and the General Rashid Dostum, largely considered as the most pitiless commander of the country, and nearest combined to the United States in this war. This last is also the key character of the Alliance of North at the time of the capitulation of Kunduz.

Kunduz holds 7000 prisoners talibans who must be transferred in other prisons. Among them, John Walker Lindh, an American taliban. The media were rués on its history, leaving to side the other prisoners and the fate which awaited them.

The talibans were sent to Kalai Zeini, an enormous fortress, before being sent in a prison more to the west, in Sheberghan. But according to official figures', only 3000 of them arrived at Sheberghan alive. Where did the thousands pass which miss with the call? It is known that a few hundreds of them were sold with the services of safety of their respective country by the heads of war - an Afghan tradition: Ouzbeks were yielded to the frightening SNB and Tchétchènes with the Russian KGB. The fate that they knew is left with our imagination.

What did it occur during transport from the prisoners? The escort of these prisoners was made up Afghan soldiers, and several of them saw their comrades dying under the balls of the talibans. Their thirst for plane revenge in the air and they have very little sympathy at the place of the few thousands which are taken along to Sheberghan. When the trucks are crammed prisoners, the soldiers pile up thousands in containers of them. In all, nearly 25 containers filled with hundreds of prisoners will make a hundred kilometers in full desert. At the end of a score of minutes under this condition, the prisoners started to claim air. "  [ Afghan soldiers ] said to us to stop our trucks and we are descended. Afterwards, they drew on the containers. Blood started to run. Inside, one intended to howl   ", testifies one to the truck-drivers whose participation was forced by the Afghan army. 

These air vents did not have anything a humane gesture. Instead of aiming at the roof of the containers, the soldiers drew randomly, killing those which were close to the walls. A taxi driver of the area had stopped at a gas station on the road of Sheberghan. "  I felt an odd odor and I asked the pump assistant from where that came. He told me " Regarde behind you ". And I saw three trucks with containers. Blood ran everywhere. My hair was drawn up on my head. It was the horror ", testifies it.

Among the prisoners piled up in the containers, those which died on the blow knew a fast delivery. Others failed several days in the desert before arriving at Sheberghan. When the containers were opened, one realized of the extent of carnage. A soldier, who fled Afghanistan since, described the scene in an interview given to a Pakistani newspaper: "  Never I will not forget this feeling. It was the strongest stink more revolting and which one can imagine: a mixture of faeces, urine, blood, vomit and flesh in decomposition. An odor to make you forget all the other odors which you ever knew   ".

During ten days, the Red Cross tried in vain to go to see what occurred. It was said to him that it could not enter because American soldiers worked inside.

The valid prisoners were taken along in prison, while deaths were charged in the containers. Many prisoners had survived, but some were so seriously wounded that one gave them in the containers with deaths. "  Some talibans were wounded and others were so weak that they were unconscious. We took them along here, in Dasht-3rd Leili. They were cut down there ", testifies one to the truck-drivers.

If the American soldiers manage to camouflage their role in this prison, it is a borderline case of war crime. But if they attended the summary execution of the prisoners while abstaining from intervening, then they were unquestionably made guilty of a criminal act.

To carry charges, still is needed an independent investigation. Who could do it? The United Nations fear too much for the safety of their own personnel to imply itself there. The Afghan government seems laid out to judge its lords of the most dangerous war, but in reality, its chances of success are almost null. The administration of Kabul does not have really an influence apart from the capital, and it would need the assistance of the largest ally of the General Dostum, the United States, to open an investigation. However, the American authorities absolutely make a point of avoiding this kind of scenario, because it would almost certainly lead to a committal for trial for war crimes of its own soldiers. The Pentagon would prefer that this business is forgotten. But the pressures start to be done more intense in Washington.

After having spent one month in London to recover, the journalist who made this report possible, with the danger of his life, Najibullah Quraishi made a point of returning the homages "I would like to wish safety and prosperity with all the journalists of the world, which it undergo no interference of some kind that it is in their profession. I would also like to dedicate this price to the people of Afghanistan, my charming country "

Original french web page from : http://radio-canada.ca/actualite/ZoneLibre/

This documentary is a MUST to see and maybe it won't be available in the USA mainstream media, thanks to their Freedom of speech!!!

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