The notorious Afghan warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostum takes offense at front-page coverage by The New York Times of the Dasht-e-Leili mass grave case. Apparently, he doesn't care for belly-aching about mass atrocities, cover-ups of alleged war crimes, and other violations of the Geneva Conventions.
Today, General Dostum let fly with a screed (one imagines with a huff and a puff) denying that such a massacre ever occurred. At the same time, he made a significant admission that the prisoners had surrendered jointly to US forces and to his US-allied Northern Alliance forces outside Konduz, Afghanistan in November 2001.
Dostum's denial overlooks a mountain of documentation gathered over the past seven years. This includes recent analysis of satellite imagery which indicates evidence-tampering at the Dasht-e-Leili site.
In April 2002, Physicians for Human Rights forensic experts dug a test trench as part of a preliminary investigation for the UN at the Dasht-e-Leili mass grave site near Sheberghan, Afghanistan, and exposed 15 bodies. (Physicians for Human Rights)
Physicians for Human Rights has just issued an official statement in response to General Dostum:
"The facts gathered in the Dasht-e-Leili mass grave case contradict General Abdul Rashid Dostum’s statement of July 17," stated Physicians for Human Rights Deputy Director Susannah Sirkin. "He denies that the alleged massacre of as many as 2,000 surrendered Taliban prisoners ever occurred. By claiming that the allegations are politically motivated, Dostum is clearly trying to distract focus from the substantial documentation collected over seven years of investigation by Physicians for Human Rights, the UN, and award-winning investigative journalists."
"Dostum makes a significant admission by confirming in his statement that Taliban prisoners surrendered jointly to US forces and to US-allied Afghan forces in November 2001 outside Konduz, Afghanistan," stated Nathaniel Raymond, Physicians for Human Rights’ lead researcher on the Dasht-e-Leili case.
"Furthermore," said Raymond, "Dostum’s blanket denial should be seen in the context of clear indications of evidence-tampering at the Dasht-e-Leili site where bodies are suspected to be buried, and the fact that at least four witnesses in this case have been tortured, killed or disappeared."
"Physicians for Human Rights applauds the US State Department’s reported efforts to ensure that Dostum not return from exile in Turkey to assume a position of power in Afghanistan," stated Sirkin. "However, a full, formal and transparent investigation into the allegations against Dostum and the evidence that the Bush Administration impeded at least three federal probes into the case must be launched by the US and Afghanistan. Witnesses must be protected and the Dasht-e-Leili site must be secured."
No doubt, the notorious Afghan warlord also takes offense at what he sees in on CNN (where President Obama recently told Anderson Cooper that he has ordered his national security team to gather all the facts and report to him on the Dasht-e-Leili case), and what he hears on the BBC World Service, the AP newswire, and Agence France Presse about his alleged responsibility for an alleged massacre of as many as 2,000 surrendered Taliban fighters.
Disclosure: Although I am the Chief Communications Officer of Physicians for Human Rights, the opinions and viewpoints expressed here are my own, not those of my employer.
Bloggers, please note: To access and use the online video by PHR ("War Crimes and the White House: The Bush Administration’s Cover-Up of the Dasht-e-Leili Massacre"), and to obtain high-resolution photos courtesy of Physicians for Human Rights, please visit http://afghanmassgrave.org.