-Caveat Lector- WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War!
The horror that drives Afghans to flee the Taliban regime By Julius Strauss in Dashti Qala (Filed: 01/10/2001) THE Taliban herded the population of the war-ravaged northern town of Taleqan into its main square. Then, they paraded three dogs. The head of each had been shaved and stencilled with the names of the men the movement most despise: the ousted Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani, the exiled King Zahir Shah and President Bush. Then they poured petrol on the dogs and set fire to them. Noor Muhammad, a proud 52-year-old farmer from a nearby village, was among the witnesses. Muhammad Qul, 55, and Abdul Karim, 48, were also there. Yesterday, the three men sat in a refugee camp surrounded by a sprawling dust plain in territory held by the anti-Taliban opposition, the Northern Alliance, a few miles from the front line. They had arrived only hours before, after an overnight escape. The three men and their families are the victims of the latest Taliban terror campaign. Facing the prospect of a pulverising Western bombing campaign that may oust them from power, the fundamentalist rulers of Afghanistan are exacting a terrible revenge against those they suspect of disloyalty. The burning of the dogs 10 days ago was meant to serve only as a warning. Last Friday, at midday prayers, the Taliban struck a second, more telling blow against the local population. First they surrounded the mosque with soldiers. Then a Taliban agent was sent to accompany the mullah to say prayers. Noor said: "The mullah told all the men to fight for Islam. Then he asked for volunteers. We all put our hands up. We were very scared and thought we would be taken to prison or shot otherwise." On Saturday night, a lorry went into the village carrying nearly a dozen Taliban soldiers and began knocking on doors looking for young men. Where they found no men they started looting. The victims were told they should already have sold their possessions and given the money to Islam. Noor said: "They said we should fight with the Americans who want to take away Islam. Then they began burning the houses where they couldn't find young men. They must have burnt down 10 or 20 of the 200 houses in the village." For those who signed up, the fate was little better. Each was given a gun and assigned a commander. They were then driven or marched off to collection points to prepare to fight the Americans. When the first strikes come, the unwilling volunteers will be in the front line. Noor decided to flee with his family. Late Saturday night, his and two other families set off into the mountains. He said: "We knew some sympathisers of the Northern Alliance. They guided us by moonlight between the Taliban and the minefields." As he surveyed his new home yesterday, he looked harried. Some refugees have been in the camp for a year. Muhammad Nazar, an 80-year-old neighbour in the camp with a hoarse voice and receding gums, came as close as an Afghan does to pleading. "When are you going to bomb the Taliban? We are waiting and waiting." Five days ago Taliban soldiers burst into Muhammad's house in Taleqan. When he refused to say where his sons were they took his rugs and family valuables and then set fire to the building. He said: "They wanted our sons to fight against the Americans. But when are the Americans going to strike back?" War against the Taliban is the last hope for the thousands of refugees in Dashti Qala camp, surely one of the world's most bleak. In summer, temperatures soar to nearly 50C. In winter, they hover at around minus 10C. Last winter, residents say 40 of their number died of cold. Most of the aid agencies who feed them have now left. John Weaver, an American aid worker who decided to stay despite the risks, said: "It's more than three weeks since they last got food." Amid the baking dust yesterday, Qazi Gul, 70, showed what has served as her home for the past year. It is a ragged, khaki-coloured tent about eight feet by three. She shares it with five other people. The area is without road or rail and travellers must make tortuous journeys on unmade mountain roads. Most northern Afghans drive battered Russian jeeps at breakneck speed. There are no traffic lights, speed limits, driving licences or number plates. Taliban-held territory by contrast has roads, infrastructure, electricity and even internal scheduled flights, a luxury unimaginable in the territory of the Northern Alliance. Yet refugees continue to flee here, preferring the poverty to the harsh rule of the Taliban. "Under the Taliban you need permission even if you want to go to the next town," said an engineer who works on both sides crossing the mountains illegally. "The paper can take several weeks to come through. Everyone is unhappy with them. If a new government is set up even 50 per cent of the Taliban soldiers themselves will desert immediately." *COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational purposes only.[Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ] Want to be on our lists? Write at [EMAIL PROTECTED] for a menu of our lists! <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. 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