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V. CAUSES OF FLIGHT OF AFGHAN REFUGEES DURING THE U.S.-LED BOMBING CAMPAIGN

Recent refugees from Afghanistan have left their homes and fled the country because of dire security and humanitarian conditions. Security conditions included the armed conflict between Taliban and Northern Alliance forces and the U.S.-led bombing campaign, rampant lawlessness fostered by shifting alliances inside the country, and infighting among various anti-Taliban factions. The ongoing humanitarian crisis within Afghanistan, exacerbated by war and drought, also caused displacement, as people desperately tried to reach locations where they could access food and other assistance. Summing up the multiple hardships faced by much of the Afghan population, one refugee told Human Rights Watch that he left Kart-e-Char in Kabul because of "hunger, bombs, and cold."15

Generalized Insecurity in the Countryside and on Roads
Conditions of insecurity have continued to plague the countryside and the roads and highways between major towns, even after areas have been taken over by anti-Taliban forces. Refugees complained that multiple checkpoints were set up by anti-Taliban commanders and their forces, or by bandits not aligned with a particular commander, along the roads between the cities of Herat and Kandahar, Kandahar and Chaman, Peshawar and Jalalabad, and inside Ghazni province.

The violence at these random checkpoints is illustrated by the case of Faiz, a thirty-five-year old refugee, who was interviewed by Human Rights Watch in Quetta Civil Hospital, where he was being treated for gunshot wounds. A truck driver by occupation, Faiz normally traveled between the cities of Herat and Kandahar. On about November 20, 2001, he was driving to Kandahar from Herat,16 but had heard from other drivers that bandits and rival warlords had set up four checkpoints on the road. He was just outside the Herat airport at approximately 8:00 p.m. when he encountered one of these and heard some men yell "Stop!" Fearing that they would take his money, steal his truck, or kill him, and seeing no men in uniforms, Faiz attempted to speed past. He was afraid, he told Human Rights Watch, because "they killed a lot of people who were drivers in Herat." He therefore pressed on the accelerator and tried to get past, but the men shot and wounded him.17

In addition, fighting has erupted between various factions of the loosely associated Northern Alliance.18 Many refugees fear a return to the ethnically-based reprisals that previously occurred under Northern Alliance rule from 1992-1996. One Hazara refugee who had already reached safety inside Pakistan told Human Rights Watch that she had heard reports of such ethnic reprisals from fellow villagers who had arrived several days after her. She said, "I am afraid to go back. . . .We heard that on November 7, 2001, more Uzbeks and Hazaras were killed in our area [Nahrin village, Baghlan province]. There were twelve executed in one day. We know it happened because one man escaped and came here to tell what happened. Also, some of the men who were killed, their families escaped and came here."19 Another thirty-year-old Pashtun refugee who had been internally displaced to Murghab village in Badghis province before fleeing to Pakistan said that after a U.S. bomb fell in his village he was afraid that the commanders gaining control in his home province would be unable or unwilling to protect Pashtuns from ethnic reprisal killings by Uzbeks.20

Another refugee who came from the town of Pul-e-Khumri in Baghlan province reported that local people were being killed both for ethnic reasons and for their weapons, and that those living in the area feared an outbreak of factional fighting.21 Indeed, three weeks after Human Rights Watch conducted this interview, factional fighting between Northern Alliance commanders broke out in Pul-e-Khumri on December 12, 2001.22

Cities such as Herat, Mazar-i Sharif, and Kandahar have suffered from lawlessness and looting,23 and looting has also occurred in the countryside. Many refugees who fled from the Panjshir valley in the first weeks of November 2001 reported that Northern Alliance forces had come to their houses and looted them.24 United Nations (U.N.) and NGO relief agency sources also reported looting by Taliban forces, mostly of offices, cars, and electronic equipment, and by anti-Taliban forces as they began to take control of the country.25

Fighting Between Anti-Taliban and Taliban Forces
Refugees arriving in Pakistan between October and December 2001 fled ground warfare between anti-Taliban and Taliban forces. Abdul, a young Pashtun refugee from the town of Tagab in the Panjshir valley explained that he fled with his mother and five brothers and sisters when the Northern Alliance was fighting in their area during the first week of November.26 Sedana, a nomadic Kuchi woman in her late twenties had to flee with her family from a small village in Kunar province on November 11, 2001, when fierce fighting broke out between the Northern Alliance and the Taliban.27 She said, "we had no time to pack our belongings. We just took our camels and moved towards Pakistan." 28 Another refugee, Noor from Laghman province told Human Rights Watch, "We left home because we were told the Northern Alliance would attack us and we fled for our lives."29

Flight from U.S.-Led Bombing Campaign
The U.S.-led bombing campaign affected Afghans in a variety of ways.30 Human Rights Watch spoke to dozens of refugees who fled to Pakistan because they or their family members were injured, and they sought medical attention and relief from the bombing. Refugees who were not physically injured also fled because they feared or experienced the bombing of military targets near their homes, including ammunitions depots or safe houses established by the Taliban prior to or during the bombing campaign. Finally, some of the Afghans interviewed by Human Rights Watch were unaware of the existence of military targets in the areas in which they lived, but felt increasingly insecure when locations near them were bombed.31

In cases reported to Human Rights Watch, the U.S.-led bombing campaign most commonly spurred people to leave their homes because the bombs were frightening to their children,32 and the noise and destruction were psychologically disturbing and disruptive to their daily lives.33 For example, Rahim and his family fled from Kart-e-Parwan in Kabul on November 12, 2001. He said, "Each night the electricity went off and then the bombs came and our children would scream and cry. We spent one million afghanis [about sixteen U.S. dollars] on new windows in our house just a few months ago. After the last night of bombing, these windows shattered and we just could not stay there anymore with this hell every night. We had to leave that place."34

Human Rights Watch also interviewed Permia, a twenty-two-year old woman from a small village in Helmand province, at Quetta Civil Hospital, where she was being treated for severe burns. She said that she had walked to her uncle's house at about 8:00 p.m. on November 4, 2001, to visit him, and was sitting there when a bomb struck the house, causing a wall to collapse on her and a fire. As a result, she had suffered extensive third-degree burns to her back, right leg, and ankle. She told Human Rights Watch that she could think of nothing in her village that could constitute a military target. Her family sought refuge in Pakistan so that she could receive medical treatment.35

In other cases, refugees had had members of their family or neighbors killed by bombs, and were traumatized by the manner in which their relatives died. Dawlat fled his village in Laghman province on November 3, 2001. He told Human Rights Watch that he fled because of bombs that fell in his village on October 24, 2001:

The bombs hit three villages and killed twenty-nine people. In our village, the bomb hit at 11:00 or 11:30 at night. We did not hear the sounds of the plane at all, but when the bombs hit the villages we heard the loud noises. In that bombing I lost my uncle Torab, his wife Shabubu, my uncle Samat, and my uncle Abdul and his son were all killed. . . .They were all sleeping in the house when the bombs came. We took out the bodies from that place, but we could not recognize the bodies. Whole faces were burned and the bodies were in pieces. The Taliban were far away when the bomb hit --- it just hit civilian houses. The military place is about two hours away.36

Many Afghan refugees fled when Taliban military installations and positions located inside or near to civilian areas were bombed.37 Often, the refugees were well aware of these military targets and could identify them in detail. However, they felt they had no choice but to remain in their homes. Zia, a Tajik woman from Charikar, had moved to Kabul when the American bombing began because of worsening fighting in Charikar, but in Kabul she was living near the airport. She told Human Rights Watch:

We knew we were near this military target, but where could we go? We just stayed there and each night our children cried for their food and all we could do was to put the blankets over them to hide them from the bombs. The bombs came at 9 o'clock every night. On about October 19, 2001, a bomb fell and spread shrapnel through our neighborhood. Two of our neighbors were killed because of the shrapnel.38

Zia's father went through the neighborhood and picked up the pieces of the dead that were strewn about. He told Human Rights Watch, "They were parts of bodies, not even whole bodies. It was our duty to bury even these pieces, even when there was not a whole body there."39

Mariam, a Tajik woman in her thirties, had been living with her husband and children in Khairkhana, a civilian neighborhood in Kabul: several other refugees interviewed by Human Rights Watch had fled this neighborhood due to bombing raids. Mariam told Human Rights Watch, "the bombing was so strong and we were so afraid to leave our homes. We were just like little birds in a cage, with all this noise and destruction going on all around us."40

Jamal Zai, a twenty-six-year old farmer from Hazaras village in Helmand province, went to work in his wheat fields on about November 14, 2001, together with two of his young cousins, aged eight and ten. In mid-morning, two bombs were dropped and exploded in between Zai's field and his uncle's adjacent land, killing the two children and fracturing Zai's arm and causing him other shrapnel injuries. He said he had not heard a plane before the bombs were dropped. He said that his field was about ten minutes' walk from a house in which Arab families were living; he had seen women and children, but did not know whether soldiers also used the house. He was not aware of any other possible military target nearby.41

Refugees explained that the Taliban created military sites inside civilian areas. One told Human Rights Watch, "many houses and mosques were made into military places. The Taliban would force people to leave their homes and then take over."42 Fatima, a thirty-eight-year old Pashtun woman from Charasyab, a town south of Kabul, said that about one week before the U.S.-led bombing campaign began, she had witnessed the Taliban forces loading guns and ammunition into a building just behind her house. One day, she had counted forty-one Toyota trucks with mounted weapons pass through the alleyway to unload these materials. Then, on Monday, October 15, she heard planes overhead and a bomb hit very near her home at about 1:00 p.m. She told Human Rights Watch that she, her eighteen-year old daughter, her two sons, and her husband spent the rest of the afternoon in fear that the bombs would hit their home and the entire night "sitting in darkness." The next day, they fled to their relatives' in Mikrorayon and then went on to Jalalabad the following day.43

15 Human Rights Watch interview, Kotkai camp, November 24, 2001.

16 Herat was officially under the control of former city governor Ismail Khan since November 13, 2000. See BBC online, Key Maps, at http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/world/2001/war_on_
terror/key_maps.

17 Human Rights Watch interview, Quetta Civil Hospital, November 29, 2001. In addition, Hussain, a twenty-one-year old refugee, said "On November 1 at about 8:00 in the morning, me and my family were in a car on the way from Herat to Kandahar. We were closer to Herat. There was fighting across the road between Northern Alliance and the Taliban. The Northern Alliance was under control of Ismail Khan. I do not know who was in charge of the Taliban. Our car was close to another car. Our car was shot by guns and three other people were injured in our car. The other car was hit by a rocket, which burned when it hit. Two people were killed in that car." Human Rights Watch interview, Quetta Civil Hospital, November 29, 2001.

18 Carlotta Gall, "Anti-Taliban Factions Clash in North," The New York Times, December 13, 2001.

19 Human Rights Watch interview, Shamshatoo camp, November 17, 2001.

20 Human Rights Watch interview, Killi Faizo camp, December 5-6, 2001.

21 Human Rights Watch interview, Peshawar, November 22, 2001.

22 "Infighting Leads to Insecurity in Baghlan," IRIN News Release, December 13, 2001.

23 Agence France Press, "Children Pay The Price Of US Bombing Campaign," December 12, 2001; Mark Baker, "Looting, Chaos Fills Taliban Vacuum," The Age, December 10, 2001.

24 Human Rights Watch interview, new Jalozai camp, November 20, 2001.

25 Human Rights Watch interview with staff members of two European relief NGOs, and three U.N. agencies, Peshawar, November 13, 2001; November 22, 2001. See also "Attacks on Aid Increasing," Human Rights Watch Press Release, October 18, 2001 at http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/10/ aid1018.htm.

26 Human Rights Watch interview, new Jalozai camp, November 20, 2001.

27 Human Rights Watch interview, Muhammed Gulgari neighborhood, Peshawar, November 15, 2001.

28 Human Rights Watch interview, Muhammed Gulgari neighborhood, Peshawar, November 15, 2001.

29 Human Rights Watch interview, new Jalozai camp, November 19, 2001.

30 The fighting in Afghanistan since the beginning of the U.S.-led bombing campaign on October 7, 2001 is categorized as an international armed conflict under international humanitarian law. The international legal standards most relevant to the U.S.-led bombing campaign are the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and, in particular, their First Additional Protocol of 1977 (Protocol I). An underlying principle of Protocol I is that civilians and military targets be distinguished, that civilians be protected from harm during war, and that "all feasible precautions" be taken to avoid or minimize harm to civilians. Although the U.S. is not a party to Protocol I (the U.K. became a party in 1988), it has indicated that it accepts standards relevant to the protection of civilians.

31 Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions (see note 30, supra) prohibits indiscriminate attacks on military targets. When targeting a military object, it is incumbent upon the attacking force to choose specific targets, ensure that they are proper military targets, select appropriate weapons to mitigate any unintended consequences of the attack, and weigh any possible negative impacts upon civilians against a concrete and direct military advantage. If the harm to civilians in excessive on balance, the attack is considered to be indiscriminate (Protocol I, art. 51(2)). Furthermore, in the conduct of military operations in the air, an attacking force shall "take all reasonable precautions to avoid losses of civilian lives and damage to civilian objects" (Protocol I, art. 57(4)). Assessing the legality under the Geneva Conventions of the incidents described by Afghan refugees would require detailed information about military targets, and is beyond the scope of this report.

32 Human Rights Watch interviewed one teacher in a small Afghan-run school who said she had three students from the same family, ages six, seven, and sixteen, who were presenting as deaf and mute. Follow-up work done by the school with the mother and a medical examination indicated that the children were severely traumatized because of multiple bombing campaigns in their neighborhood in Jalalabad. Human Rights Watch interview, Peshawar, November 21, 2001.

33 Another refugee, Sajadu, a Pashtun woman in her thirties from the Kart-e-Parwan neighborhood of Kabul fled on about October 10, 2001 because of the bombing. She told Human Rights Watch, "I fled because of those bombs and fighting. They did not come near my house, but you cannot afford to live in a place like that. I do not have the strength of heart to be in a place like that and listen to those bombs." Human Rights Watch interview, new Jalozai camp, November 20, 2001.

34 Human Rights Watch interview, Tajarabat, Peshawar, November 18, 2001.

35 Human Rights Watch interview, Quetta Civil Hospital, November 29, 2001.

36 Human Rights Watch interview, new Jalozai camp, November 20, 2001.

37 Although beyond the scope of this report, the Taliban's deployment in populated areas raises international humanitarian law concerns. Although Afghanistan is not a party to Protocol I, many of its provisions are considered reflective of customary international law. Article 57 of Protocol I states that "In the conduct of military operations, constant care shall be taken to spare the civilian population, civilians and civilian objects." Article 58 elaborates on this principle, calling on armed forces, "to the maximum extent feasible," to endeavor to remove the civilian population under their control from the vicinity of military objectives; to avoid locating military objectives within or near densely populated areas; and to take other necessary precautions to protect civilians under their control against the dangers resulting from military operations. Article 53 prohibits making use of places of worship in support of the military effort.

38 Human Rights Watch interview, Tajarabat, Peshawar, November 18, 2001.

39 Human Rights Watch interview, Tajarabat, Peshawar, November 18, 2001. Anwar, who is a Tajik man in his forties, lived in the Baraki neighborhood of Kabul. He explained to Human Rights Watch what happened near his home during the third week of November, "There was a petrol pump near our house, where regular trucks and Taliban trucks got their petrol. At about 2:00 p.m. I heard a helicopter overhead, I knew it was a helicopter because of the sounds they make. . . . I did not tell my family to take cover because I thought helicopters could not fire major weapons. . . .But, this helicopter fired something at the petrol pump and when it exploded it felt like an earthquake was in the ground. . . .There was a man killed in the blast, his body was blasted into pieces and scattered in the street. . . .In the place where the pump was, a big fire was burning." Human Rights Watch interview, Peshawar, November 23, 2001.

40 Human Rights Watch interview, Shamshatoo camp, November 17, 2001.

41 Human Rights Watch interview, Quetta Civil Hospital, November 29, 2001.

42 Human Rights Watch interview with male Pashtun refugee, November 23, 2001.

43 Human Rights Watch interview, Muhammed Gulgari neighborhood, Peshawar, November 15, 2001.

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