Publications

Previous PageTable Of ContentsNext Page

IV. TORTURE AND ARBITRARY ARRESTS

Military, police, and Amniat forces in Herat have committed numerous cases of torture, beatings, and arbitrary arrests in addition to the politically motivated violence documented earlier in this report. Independent and credible sources with access to detainees, including UNAMA officials, confirmed that torture is commonplace at the Herat police station and Amniat compound, and offered reliable evidence of a larger pattern of torture and beatings by the forces under the control of Ismail Khan.212

In the Herat police station, special rooms have been set up to carry out torture. Electric shock is commonplace. Human Rights Watch heard testimony from witnesses and victims about the use of crank electrical generators with wires-a torture device that has been used in Afghanistan since the 1980s.213

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has free access to all detainees at Herat detention facilities who fall under their protection, but cannot share its information with other organizations or agencies because of ICRC rules regarding confidentiality. Aside from the ICRC, no organization, including the U.N., has adequate access to the detention centers.

Arrests, Torture, and Coerced Vows of Silence in March 2002
In mid-March 2002, a few days before the Persian New Year (Nawruz), a dispute arose between the Herat police department and a group of Shi'a jewelers in Herat city.214 The cause of friction was demands by police officials that the jewelers register with the police station; submit information about their property, families, and possessions; and provide photographs and fingerprints. The jewelers considered the demand to be part of an attempt by police to extort money (for example by using the collected information to accuse them of crimes and then extorting money in exchange for dropping the accusations).215 The jewelers protested to Ismail Khan's deputies, and the authorities agreed to drop the request.216

On or around the morning of March 19, a confrontation arose between the jewelers and some police at the bazaar. According to witnesses, approximately eight armed police troops arrived at the bazaar and went to the jewelers' shops. Other shopkeepers believed that the jewelers were about to be robbed or that money was going to be extorted from them. They started a commotion that drew the whole bazaar's attention.217

The shopkeepers and their staff gathered together in a group that numbered in the hundreds and overwhelmed and disarmed the police. The shopkeepers held some of the troops hostage and beat them severely.218

By late morning, police and Amniat officials arrived to negotiate with the shopkeepers. After some time, the police hostages were released. To defuse the situation, the police reached an agreement with the shopkeepers that no one would be arrested or charged or, as one person involved put it, "Everyone would go about their business."219

However, later that day police began rounding up jewelers from the bazaar-both those who had taken part in the protest and those who had not. By late afternoon, almost thirty jewelers and their employees, some of whom were children, were in custody at the Herat police station.220 As they arrived, police officers beat them. According to a victim, "The police force beat us a lot there, even the boys, who were about thirteen to sixteen years old. At that time, the head of the criminal branch was not there, but he came later and beat us himself."221

After the arrests, the chief of the criminal department of the police, Faiz Ahmed Fasel Azimi, entered the holding room. He instructed the guards to remove all the other prisoners-criminal detainees, former Taliban troops, and other prisoners who were already there-so that only the jewelers remained.222 Then, according to one witness:

Faiz Ahmed started attacking us, first one, then another, going all in and out among us, hitting one person, then another, dragging the young men by their hair, pulling two at a time by their hair, and crashing them into the wall. Those who tried to run away from him he would beat twice as hard. No one in that room was not beaten by him.... I myself was hit by his fists. It was impossible to fight back. We were in a police station, and it is impossible to do anything.223

The head of the Amniat office in Herat, Nasir Ahmed Alawi, also arrived at the jail. He reportedly tried to stop the detainees from being beaten, and instructed the police to release the minors and other detainees he specified. The minors were released, but Faiz Ahmed reportedly did not release any of the other detainees. Alawi left the jail soon after he arrived, and the violence continued.224 A Herati familiar with the makeup of the Herat government told Human Rights Watch that Alawi, who ostensibly outranks Faiz Ahmed, was in reality not able to command him because Faiz Ahmed is a close friend of Ismail Khan's son.225 According to one of the witnesses: "Faiz Ahmed is just a deputy, a second-in-charge, but everyone is afraid of him-even those above him-because he is the friend of Ismail Khan's son."226

The troops wanted the detainees to sign confessions about their "rebellion," specifying that they instigated it for another reason:

They were trying to get us to sign confessions, testimonies that we had rebelled in the market because the T.V. had shown two prostitutes being shamed and that they were Shi'a-that we had been angry [at the government] for defaming of Shi'a people and that that was why we had rebelled. And a few people did sign this testimony.227

After Faiz Ahmed attacked the detainees, the police tied the detainees together in groups of five, using the turbans of the Taliban prisoners who had been in the room when the detainees first arrived. Then the police forced the groups to walk roughly 200 meters to another room in the police compound-a difficult feat when tied together facing in different directions. The guards continued to beat the detainees for not moving quickly enough.228 A witness described what happened next:

They took us into a long corridor and sat us down there-all six groups. There was a door in the side and another room where they tortured.... All night they were torturing us.... They would take groups into the room and whip them and torture them with electrical shocks. We could all hear their shouts, their wailing, their asking for mercy and forgiveness.229

Another victim described what occurred when he was taken into the room:

They took us to the investigation room [Nizarat Khana]. They beat my friend first because he was older than me. They made him lie down and tied his feet and then pulled his feet up towards the ceiling. A soldier held his shoulders down. The other soldier started beating the soles of his feet with a cable [made a circle with his forefinger and thumb] not so thick and not so thin-medium. He was beating him furiously.

They took two of us at a time, one to see the other being beaten, so that the person who saw would sign the confession paper. My friend did not sign the paper though they beat him for a long time, maybe seven or eight minutes.

Then they gave my friend electricity shocks. The used a crank generator. They had to crank it very fast to produce the shock. They tied two electrical lines to each of his big toes. Three or four times they shocked him. They would crank the generator by turning it five or six times fast. Each time my friend's body would be thrown by the shock.

After that, my friend signed the confession paper.

Then I signed it also so that I would not be beaten.

The worst part of this whole incident was not the beating or the electric shock; it was the abuses and insults made by the head of the criminal branch in front of fifty or sixty [of the other] criminals. Especially to the elders. He said whatever came into his mouth. It was humiliating for us.230

In one of the rooms were two generators, which were cranked by hand to produce the electrical shock:

At one point when the door was open, I could see that they were cranking one of them and that it wasn't producing a big shock. So one of the soldiers said, "Here, this one is better," pointing to the other generator. And so they disconnected the one and attached the other, which worked better....

When the boys came out [calling them "boys" because he is an elder], they were trembling and could not walk, and they were very cold. They pushed them down the hall, separate from us, and threw them on the ground, and then took another group.231

Human Rights Watch was told that Faiz Ahmed was present during the violence:

The head of the criminal department was there, Faiz Ahmed, and there were five police in the torturing room and five in the hall. They were yelling at us the whole time. I heard them saying to the people in the torturing room, "If we burn these dirty Shi'a people, it is not enough. We have to torture them even more than that."232

Regular Torture Sessions and Beatings at the Herat Police Station and Amniat Compound
Other sources told Human Rights Watch that police at the Herat police station regularly torture and beat detainees.233 These sources confirmed several cases of torture after the loya jirga. As with the torture of the jewelers, the head of the police department, Faiz Ahmed Fasel Azimi, was implicated in the violence.

One man who was detained at the police station in August 2002 told Human Rights Watch about two men who were tortured there:

I know of one case in detail, because the man who was tortured was close to me: he slept next to me, and I became friends with him. His name was [Arbab].234 He had been arrested for [a minor felony]. On the seventh night I was in jail ... at around 10 p.m., the head of the criminal division came into the room, and he ordered Arbab and one other prisoner to come out. The other prisoner's name was [Behrooz]. So they went. The torturing room is about one hundred meters away down a corridor, and during the two hours or so they were gone, all of the prisoners in the room were trembling, thinking that the time might come for them to be tortured.

At around 12:30 a.m., they brought Arbab back. They pushed him through the door. He was shaking all over, and he could not talk. There was blood all over his feet, completely all over his feet. He could not walk, as he was shaking so hard. His tongue was trembling, and his jaw was trembling. Although he was warm, he was acting in a way like he was cold. He said at one point, "I am so cold." His clothes were completely wet.

Before this, he and I always slept outside, in the part of the holding cell outside, but we took him inside, and we put blankets all around him. We brought a thermos of tea, and we gave him some tea.

After a while he managed to talk and to tell us his story. He said the story like this, that when they took him into the room, they asked him to confess, and asked him, "Why don't you confess? You have [committed these crimes]." He said he swore on the Holy Koran that he was telling the truth, and that he had [not committed any crime]. But they said to him, "Why do you swear on the Koran?" and "We will make you confess."

They tied his feet and hung him from the ceiling, so that his hands touched the ground. His feet were tied so tightly that it was cutting him around the ankles. He said that they then beat him with whips for a long time. But he said he would not confess.235

The torture then passed to another level:

After beating him with whips, they said to him, "We will find another solution." And then they brought two electrical wires, and they wound the wire ends, the metal part, around each of his big toes. Then they shocked him.

On his big toes there were burns, like a ring about each two. The skin there was black and bloody. [He traces circles around each of his big toes, up above the joint.] But he did not confess. There were many words they shouted at him, and they shocked him many times. But he kept [denying that he committed any crime].

A new man came in. He looked around and then said to the men who were torturing Arbab, "What are you doing? You are not doing it right." And he made the men take off the wires from [his] toes and wound it around his thumbs instead. His hands were tied together but hanging on the floor, and they stepped on his hands with their boots while they did this. Then the new man said, "Now I will make him do the death dance." And they shocked him again. And he said he was moving all about and shaking all about by his feet. [He was still hanging upside down from the ceiling.] And he said he fainted and lost consciousness. He said he didn't know what happened next.

When he regained consciousness, they were slapping him, and they poured water on him. They asked him, "Now do you confess?" But he told us that he could not say a word. He was unable to speak. So they took him back to our room, saying, "We will make you confess later."

His ankles were all bloody-all the skin was completely gone where the ropes had been. He had burns on his toes and also around the joints of his thumbs. These became black scabs. They were there for many days. There were lashes on his body from the whips, cuts, especially on his calves.236

The man was taken from the holding room again a few days later, and tortured again:

Two nights later they came and took him again, out of the room. When they brought him back about an hour later, he had cuts on his shoulders and legs. He was in severe pain, but he could walk. He said they had hung him upside down again and whipped him, but that they didn't shock him.

He was very happy that they had beaten him and not given him any electrical shock. He said he was glad there was no shocking. He said they hadn't tried to make him confess, but instead they said they were punishing him for not talking.237

The same witness also told Human Rights Watch that the other detainee who was taken on the first night, Behrooz, was tortured as well. He was brought back to the holding cell a short time before Arbab. He told the prisoners he had been whipped, but was unable to say anything else: "When they brought him back, he could hardly walk, but I didn't talk to him so much."238

Another source told Human Rights Watch about torture at the Amniat compound in Herat city:

I know one man, but he won't talk to you because he is afraid. He was arrested at our mosque. They accused him of being a Talib. I talked with him. They tortured him at Amniat with whips and electricity [makes a motion like he is twirling something around his thumb-wire].239

The victim declined to speak with Human Rights Watch.

A local humanitarian worker familiar with Herat prison told Human Rights Watch about several cases involving children accused of "vice crimes." The children were reportedly tortured by police troops at the station and then shown on Herat television:

The family ... talked with me about the case. The boys had been put in prison and tortured there. They were beaten very severely and tortured to make them sign some confession. But even worse, they had been brought on television and shown to everyone. They shaved their heads. The television announcer said, "Here you can see the greatest crime-the greatest criminals." In my opinion, it was the greatest indignity of humans. [On television] the boys each tried to keep their heads down, but the guards kept forcing their heads up so that the camera could see their faces. The families were completely dishonored.

They were beaten severely-this one boy, it was terrible. You need to understand: torture is a regular thing here-there in the prison there are many cases.240

One Herati official familiar with the situation at the jail said to a Human Rights Watch researcher: "Well, you were in Herat, and you know that whoever enters into the criminal branch will not be released without a severe punishment."241

Another source told Human Rights Watch about the regularity of torture in the Herat jail:

People are tortured in the police station-to take their confessions. People do confess. To avoid further beating-not because they are guilty. And these people who confess name other people, and so the police go out and arrest them, and it goes on.242

The witness said that it was difficult to learn more about the victims:

No one will talk. The police often make people sign something that they promise never to talk.... Wherever I go, I hear about these things. If you go to a wedding, or a funeral feast, or to dinner at someone's house, people at each of these talk about how Abdul so-and-so and Arbab so-and-so have been arrested and beaten and tortured. I can't report this case to the authorities. I am afraid ... we are all afraid to do anything.243

Another witness who was detained in the jail told Human Rights Watch that beatings in the holding room were common, and that sometimes the head of the police station entered the holding cell and beat prisoners himself.244 He described how the police beat one friend of his who had come to ask for his release: "When [my friend] came they arrested him as well. Some troops, they pulled him into the cell and started slapping him on the face over and over again. This one troop must have slapped him twenty-five times on the face, very hard."245

Another witness said that a police official would sometimes enter the holding room and just taunt the prisoners, and then choose individuals and instruct the guards to beat them.246

Abuses at Military Checkpoints, Bases, and Other Detention Sites
Police, military, and Amniat forces have been implicated in beatings outside of the police station, at military checkpoints and other sites used as detention cells, in several areas in and around Herat.

In mid-August 2002, a man was arrested and beaten because of a minor dispute between him and a district commander's son. The district commander's troops arrested him and invented charges to accuse him. According to a person familiar with the case:

Some troops from the district administrator's office came to his home and accused him of possessing weapons. "Hand them over," they reportedly said. But he said he had none. They arrested him and took him to the district administrator's office. There the governor accused him again of having guns. He told them, "I have no guns-and you know that I have no guns. I have been here the whole time. Why have you come now, today?" [It had been over eight months since Ismail Khan took power in the west.]

Then they started beating him. They used whips all over his body, and they used their rifle butts and sticks. And then they took him out of the office and left him-he doesn't even know where. [Some colleagues] took him to the hospital. It was then I saw him. I went to his bed. He was terribly beaten. His feet, his hands, and his body were bruised in every place. His skin was black and blue and swollen. He had been beaten very severely.247

Another man described witnessing a commander in Badghis, allied with Ismail Khan, kill a man who accused him of raping a young boy:

I stopped in Mohrgob to collect a small debt that a man owed to me. His name was [Aminullah]. He gave me the money and then invited me to have tea with him. Since we were in the village, we went into the district administrator's compound [to drink the tea]. There were twenty or thirty troops there, and [several] civilians like myself.

While we were talking, a man came in. Later, I learned that his name was Ghulpukar and that he was a relative of a boy of thirteen who had been kidnapped by the commander of Mohrgob for homosexual sex. People in the village told me that the boy had escaped but that the commander had captured him again and was holding him.

So Ghulpukar comes in and says, "What example are you for the people? What sort of man are you who takes a boy for a wife-it is a great dishonor!" And so on.

And when Ghulpukar had said this, the commander became very pale and serious, and looked extremely angry. And then he looked to his bodyguard, to his right, and said, "Shoot him."

Ghulpukar was standing near the door. And just in a moment, the bodyguard took out his pistol and shot the man. And he was dead, and the soldiers dragged him out.248

Residents of Ghor province told Human Rights Watch that during late August 2002 a commander under Ismail Khan, whom they called Abdul Sallam, attacked a rival commander in a village near Chaghcharan called Bara Khana, killed the commander, arrested several of his troops, tortured and then killed them.249 "The corpses were returned to the families," said one of the residents.250 The troops mutilated some of the detainees while torturing them: "When the families were given the corpses, they saw that the hands were cut off, eyes were pulled out, ears were cut, and then people understood that they had been tortured terribly in the prison."251

According to the residents, Abdul Sallam took the troops' families into custody, and intimidated them, shooting weapons close to them, yelling at them.252 "Their houses were looted as well."253

Abuses against Pashtuns
Pashtuns have been especially targeted for military and police brutality-particularly on the streets and roads around Herat. Several sources described a pattern of arbitrary arrests, usually followed by beatings.254 One witness told Human Rights Watch about seeing a Pashtun man being beaten at the Herat police station which, he said, was "typical of what happens every day."255 As the witness put it: "We know as a fact that people are beaten severely in the police and Amniat jails. When people are released, they tell this to us. Everyone knows about this."256 He described the case:

I was in the police station the other day to get a permit for some business, and I saw myself a Pashtun being severely beaten. This guy, he wanted to get a passport. When he came in, he said, "I have come to get a passport." But the head of the office there, he said, "No passport will be given to you. Go away." And the Pashtun man said, "Why not?" "No reason!" the head of office said. "Get out of the office!" "But I am a citizen of Afghanistan! I am entitled to this right. I have brought permission from the Governor's office. My application was approved there to receive a passport."

And the Pashtun handed the paper to the head of office. But the head of office tore up the paper, and then he ordered his guards, two of them standing on each side of the door, to remove the man. The two soldiers hit the man with their guns and pulled him out of the office. Then they started to pull him out of the building into the yard. And in the yard, they beat him and kicked him. The watchman from the gate came and started dragging the man toward the gate. It was about twenty meters from the door to the gate, and the watchman was dragging the man toward the gate, and as he did this, the soldiers were beating the man. And it took ten minutes to drag him there to the gate, and all the while they were beating him. And he had blood all over his head and face and clothes. Then they threw him out the gate, and he was there for a while. And then after a time he cleaned off some of the blood from his face with his turban, and he went away.

It was because he was Pashtun-because the Taliban harmed the population here, and they were Pashtun, so some people have trouble with Pashtuns. It is ethnic hatred.257

Another source told Human Rights Watch about beatings of Pashtuns at local military checkpoints:

There is a checkpoint commander here in Herat, called Bismullah. Bismullah the Mad. He stops Pashtuns all the time at his checkpoint-I have seen it myself. He pulls them from cars, accuses them of being Taliban. He arrests them and takes them to his jail-the jail at his checkpoint.

They beat them there, with sticks, and tell them to confess and say they are Taliban. It costs 50 lakh258 [approximately U.S.$100] to get people released, and they are beaten anyway. I talk to people here all the time about these problems.259

A Pashtun shopkeeper told Human Rights Watch he had been arrested repeatedly for no apparent reason: "They arrested me for no reason-and released me for no reason. It is only to show that they have power. I have been arrested and released three times. The first time was four months ago. Everyone who is Pashtun or from Kandahar is being harassed."260

An incident occurred involving Human Rights Watch researchers that reinforced these findings. During an interview in a public area, troops came and attempted to arrest the interviewee-apparently because he was Pashtun. The interviewee and the Human Rights Watch researchers were taken to a military compound to answer questions, and then to the Herat office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). The Human Rights Watch researchers were released after three hours, but the interviewee was detained overnight for questioning. One official explained the detention by saying, "He is a Pashtun, we have got to be suspicious." A senior Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) official told Human Rights Watch:

I know who you are, and I know that if anything happens to this man, it will be a big problem, for me and for everyone, and everyone here knows this. But we want to question him, so we are going to keep him. But I understand the situation and who you are, and believe me, this man will not be touched-he will not be tortured.261

The interviewee was released the next day, unharmed, but only after Human Rights Watch expressed strong concerns about his case to the MFA, and visited a senior deputy's office repeatedly throughout the day. (The senior MFA official in Herat was unavailable for most of the later morning because he was meeting with a senior U.S. military liaison.) While detained, the interviewee was threatened with a future beating.

212 Human Rights Watch interview with a UNAMA official, Kabul, September 24, 2002; Human Rights Watch interview with a UNAMA official, Herat, September 17, 2002; Human Rights Watch interview with an NGO official familiar with detention sites in Herat, Kabul, September 28, 2002.

213 The use of electrical shock torture has a long history in Afghanistan. During the 1980's Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International published reports documenting electrical torture abuses. See e.g., Human Rights Watch, "Tears, Blood, and Cries: Human Rights in Afghanistan Since the Invasion 1979 to 1984," A Helsinki Watch and Asia Watch Report, 1984; Human Rights Watch, "To Die in Afghanistan," A Helsinki Watch and Asia Watch Report, 1985; see also, Amnesty International, Report 1985 (London: Amnesty International, 1985), p. 197; Amnesty International, Afghanistan: Torture of Political Prisoners (London: Amnesty International Publications, 1986), p. 21. Torture rooms and devices used by the Soviet-backed government were in turn used by successor governments. See Human Rights Watch, "Afghanistan: The Forgotten War," An Asia Watch Report, February 1991, p. 93. The 1985 Amnesty International report details the use of electrical shock by the Soviet-backed government agents as early as 1982. It is possible that both torture rooms and electrical generators were first used by Soviet government forces and have remained at the disposal of subsequent government forces, including the Taliban and the first government of Ismail Khan during 1992-95.

214 Shi'a Muslims make up a large portion of the Herat population. Because of lack of accurate census information, it is not known whether they are in the majority or minority.

215 Human Rights Watch interview with S.A.A. and H.A.Z., Herat, September 15, 2002; Human Rights Watch interview with UNAMA Herat official, Kabul, September 24, 2002.

216 Human Rights Watch interview with S.A.A. and S.Q., Herat, September 15, 2002.

217 Human Rights Watch interview with S.A.A., Herat, September 15, 2002. Shopkeepers in Herat are keenly attuned to how extortion and looting occur, and how to avoid high losses. A shopkeeper explained to Human Rights Watch: "One thing is, the troops cannot face a dishonor of stealing in front of so many people. But they will if they feel like it.... We keep most of the inventory in separate places. In this way, we avoid total looting." Human Rights Watch interview with a shopkeeper, Herat, September 15, 2002.

218 Human Rights Watch interview with S.A.A., Herat, September 15, 2002.

219 Ibid.

220 Ibid.

221 Human Rights Watch interview with A.S., Herat, September 20, 2002.

222 Human Rights Watch interview with S.A.A., September 15, 2002; Human Rights Watch interview with A.S., Herat, September 20, 2002.

223 Human Rights Watch interview with S.A.A., Herat, September 15, 2002.

224 Human Rights Watch interview with A.S., Herat, September 20, 2002.

225 Human Rights Watch interview with M.Z.Z., Kabul, September 29, 2002.

226 Human Rights Watch interview with S.A.A., Herat, September 15, 2002.

227 Ibid.

228 Ibid.

229 Ibid.

230 Human Rights Watch interview with A.S., Herat, September 20, 2002.

231 Human Rights Watch interview with S.A.A., Herat, September 15, 2002.

232 Ibid.

233 These sources included detainees, persons familiar with the Herat court, persons familiar with the Herat government, medical staff, U.N. staff and officials, and NGO officials.

234 The names of the victims and identifying details have been changed or omitted for security reasons.

235 Human Rights Watch interview with A.H.U., Herat, September 15, 2002.

236 Ibid.

237 Ibid.

238 Ibid.

239 Human Rights Watch interview H.H.G., Herat, September 16, 2002.

240 Human Rights Watch interview with F.J., Herat, September 17, 2002.

241 Human Rights Watch telephone interview with L.H., October 11, 2002.

242 Human Rights Watch interview with F.J., Herat, September 17, 2002.

243 Ibid.

244 Human Rights Watch interview with Q.P., a Pashtun shopkeeper, Herat, September 11, 2002.

245 Ibid.

246 Human Rights Watch interview with G.A., Herat, September 15, 2002.

247 Human Rights Watch interview with F.J., Herat, September 17, 2002.

248 Human Rights Watch interview with F.I., Herat, September 17, 2002.

249 Human Rights Watch interview with residents of Ghor province, Kabul, October 6 and 7, 2002. Human Rights Watch also received a written message from eyewitnesses in late September detailing these allegations. Letter from eyewitnesses to Human Rights Watch, October 2002 (on file with Human Rights Watch).

250 Human Rights Watch interview with a resident of Ghor province, Kabul, October 7, 2002.

251 Ibid.

252 Human Rights Watch interview with residents of Ghor province, Kabul, October 6 and 7, 2002; Letter from eyewitnesses to Human Rights Watch, October 2002 (on file with Human Rights Watch).

253 Human Rights Watch interview with a resident of Ghor province, Kabul, October 7, 2002.

254 Human Rights Watch interview with a NGO official familiar with the security situation in Herat, Herat, September 11, 2002; Human Rights Watch interview with UNAMA staff, Herat, September 17, 2002; Human Rights Watch interview with W.A., Herat, September 11, 2002; Human Rights Watch interview with H.S., Herat, September 12, 2002.

255 Human Rights Watch interview with A.A., Herat, September 12, 2002.

256 Ibid.

257 Ibid.

258 The Afghan currency referred to here is the "old afghani," which at the time of this interview was trading at approximately 51,000 Af. to U.S.$1.00. New afghani banknotes were issued in early October: 1 new afghani equals 1,000 old afghanis. A "lakh" is a unit of 100,000.

259 Human Rights Watch interview with H.H.G., Herat, September 16, 2002.

260 Human Rights Watch interview with Q.P., a Pashtun shopkeeper, Herat, September 11, 2002.

261 Human Rights Watch exchange with Deputy of Political Affairs in Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Herat, September 17, 2002.

Previous PageTable Of ContentsNext Page