This Week in Afghanistan Watch:

• Two new human rights reports name and shame-but will they make a difference?
• Justice for one: British court sentences warlord to 20 years
• Afghan police thwart attack on dam, another suicide bomber, and reports of increased Al Qaeda action
  

July 20, 2005

"You were personally involved in these acts of torture and hostage-taking as well as authorizing your men."

—British Judge Colman Treacy, in sentencing Afghan warlord Faryadi Sarwar Zardad to 20 years in a British prison.

Featured Reports:

The release of a second major human rights report in two weeks has focused attention on past human rights abuses in Afghanistan—and on how best to move forward.

The reports coincide with the conviction of an Afghan warlord in London to 20 years in prison—even as men who did far worse prepare to stand in Afghan elections in September.

A recent Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission survey showed that 94 percent of Afghans consider justice for past crimes to be either "very important" or "important," and, by a ten to one margin, believed that bringing war criminals to justice would increase, rather than decrease, security. Both reports recommend commissions and courts to address past grievances and prevent impunity, but Karzai's government is in no position to take these reforms on alone.

Casting Shadows: War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity 1978-2001

(The Afghanistan Justice Project) A detailed 168 page account of abuses compiled during a four year investigation.

The report's recommendations draw from several key steps that "Afghans across a broad political, ideological and social spectrum have expressed strong support for." These steps are:

• Further documentation of war crimes, including forensic investigations.
  
• Mechanisms for truth-telling. "For the most egregious crimes against
  humanity, prosecution is appropriate, but is not yet feasible…the Afghan government and international donors should work to expedite the process of judicial reform...Prosecutions of Afghans charged with war crimes outside the country should be supported."
  
• Victim compensation and forfeiture of property acquired by commanders who gained these assets as a result of their war crimes.
  

Blood Stained Hands: Past Atrocities in Kabul and Afghanistan’s Legacy of Impunity

(Human Rights Watch) Documents abuses from 1992-93 and names the violators—including many current government members.

The report recommends:

• Vetting Process: "As an immediate first step, we recommend that the government implement a set of vetting processes for government officials, as specified in more detail below."
  Special Court: "the government and key international actors work to create a Special Court … comprised of both Afghan and international judges…A Special Court, ideally located in Afghanistan but elsewhere if necessary, would have the best chance of meeting recognized fair trial standards."
• Standing Panel: "of high-level and independent Afghan and international experts to propose and help implement additional programs" on"
  
  • Past crimes that the Special Court does not have the capacity to address or which fall outside of its jurisdiction;
  • The establishment of an archive for the historical documentation of past abuses;
  • Recommendations on appropriate restitution or compensation mechanisms; and
  • Educational initiatives, such as the drafting of fair historical accounts in school textbooks.
    
• International support: "donors should offer political, technical, and financial support to efforts to establish accountability mechanisms"
  

Read:

• The Report
  
• Recommendations
  
• The individuals named as culpable
  

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld escorts Mohammad Fahim Khan through an honor cordon and into the Pentagon on March 4, 2003. Source: Department of Defense, photo by Helene C. Stikkel

This week's news:

Afghanistan Weighs Launching Truth Panel

KABUL, July 18 (AP) By Daniel Cooney—Afghanistan's government is considering setting up a special war crimes court and a truth commission to document atrocities, an official said Monday.

The news follows a comprehensive report on human rights abuses, the first since the late 1970s, which blames some of the worst atrocities on several top officials and candidates in coming legislative elections. Those named include Chief of Army Staff Abdul Rashid Dostum and Second Vice President Karim Khalili.

Bringing them to justice would be risky for U.S.-backed President Hamid Karzai. It could inflame ethnic tensions and alienate powerful regional strongmen whose support the government needs as it struggles to contain an escalating Taliban-led insurgency.

The government is expected to decide in coming weeks on a proposal to deal with crimes committed during years of warfare…the plan, drawn up by the state-sponsored commission and U.N. human rights officials, calls for an immediate "vetting process'' to remove officials from government if there is war crime evidence…

Afghanistan's justice system isn't thought to be strong enough now to prosecute those accused of atrocities, and the vetting is a stopgap until the courts can be reformed.

[Ahmad Nader] Nadery said details of the commission still had to be worked out, and that South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission had been reviewed, but was not being used as a model…Nadery said some countries were campaigning for courts outside Afghanistan to pursue war criminals…

While some observers caution that a public examination of past crimes could cause greater political instability, others argue that impunity for suspects - including warlords who helped the United States drive out the Taliban - is a stain on the international community's efforts to rebuild Afghanistan and is sowing the seeds of future turmoil.

Afghan warlord gets 20 years in prison

LONDON, July 20 (AP) By Sue Leeman— A former Afghan warlord convicted of torture and hostage-taking in his country was sentenced yesterday to 20 years in a British prison. It was the first time anyone had been tried in Britain for torture in another country….Prosecutors said Zardad was in charge of the road from Kabul to Jalalabad in the Sarobi area from 1991-96, and his men set up checkpoints where they trapped and abused opponents.
"He and his soldiers wanted to create an atmosphere of fear and terror. He wanted a fearsome reputation for being cruel and merciless at his military checkpoints," prosecutor James Lewis told London's Old Bailey court.

The trial marks the end of Zardad's career, during which he fought both the Soviets and the Taliban, led a brutal troop of highwaymen, and (in a bit of a career switch) managed a pizza parlor in London.

Britain has argued that crimes against humanity can be tried in any country, but this is the first conviction in a British court. A BBC investigative report was critical in revealing his identity and bringing Zardad to justice.

Afghan police thwart rocket attack on dam

KABUL, July 19 (AP) by Daniel Lovering—Police said Tuesday they had thwarted a rocket attack against a major hydropower dam near Kabul, the latest threat to stability in Afghanistan ahead of parliamentary elections.

This could have been a crippling blow: the Surobi dam provides the main source of electricity to Kabul. Despite the vulnerability of dams, hydroelectric power has great potential in Afghanistan, especially as its need for electricity grows (low demand and inconsistent seasonal water flow has prevented its widespread adoption.) Neighboring Tajikistan is the world's third leading producer of hydropower, supplying between half and three-quarters of its electricity needs and exporting hundreds of millions of dollars of power to Uzbekistan.

Suicide bomber kills self in Afghanistan

KABUL, July 19 (Boston Globe)—A bomber blew himself up near a district chief's house in western Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing only himself, officials said. The unidentified man detonated explosives he was carrying about 160 feet from the official's house in the city of Herat, capital of Herat province, said provincial police chief Mohammed Ayub Salangi.

This is the third suicide bomb in recent weeks (there were only five in the previous four years). No reports yet whether the bomber was a local or a foreigner.

Evidence Suggests al-Qaeda's Return to Afghanistan: Experts

PARIS, July 7 (News International Pakistan)—Afghan Defense Minister Abdur Rahim Wardak on Monday told the New York Times: "There is a regrouping of Al-Qaeda, and it seems they are going to pay more attention to Afghanistan. We are running into foreign fighters here and there." And Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah said on a visit to India this week that the Taliban had become "numerically stronger" and that the likely explanation was that they were getting "outside support".

The evidence for a resurgent Al Qaeda in Afghanistan has been mostly anecdotal, but the shift in tactics combined with increased lethality suggests to me that something is going on. According to Michael Scheuer, a former CIA bin Laden expert, "The recent attacks fit bin Laden's strategic goal of ensuring 'the pious Caliphate will start from Afghanistan'…Consistent with Al-Qaeda's tactical doctrine for aiding Islamist insurgencies, Taliban leaders are taking the lead in discussing and claiming credit for the increased violence."

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Afghanistan Watch is prepared by Carl Robichaud, a program officer at The Century Foundation.

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