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Amnesty condemns rights violations by Northern Alliance

The Amnesty International report on Afghanistan was unsparing: Violations against civilians "were numerous and included rape, extra-judicial executions and torture, as well as long-term detention of prisoners of conscience."

In the present context, it would be easy to conclude that the Taliban militia, known for its heavy-handed rule, was responsible. Instead, the comments were directed at Northern Alliance rule in Afghanistan between 1992 and 1996.

From the US perspective these days, the Northern Alliance are the "good guys," the same group which, with a large assist from American military bombardment, has helped to seize power from the Taliban in much of the country.

Without the Northern Alliance, the Taliban probably would still be running the country and the capture of presumed terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden would be far more of a long shot than it is.

Concepts such as majority rule and minority rights are not part of the Northern Alliance doctrine or of political movements in general in Afghanistan.

The Northern Alliance attitude toward a broad-based government is grudging acceptance at best. After days of arm-twisting, alliance leader Burhanuddin Rabbani agreed to take part in a UN-sponsored power-sharing conference in Berlin in the coming days.

But he later described the meeting as "symbolic" and said substantive decisions on the country's political future must be made in Afghanistan itself, where his people have the upper hand.

Apprised of Rabbani's comments, Lakhdar Brahimi, the top UN envoy for Afghanistan, said, "That's not what they told us."

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher believes the situation is on the right track.

Asked about indications of Northern Alliance intransigence, he said Tuesday, "I don't think it's something to make a big deal of. ... Things seem to be moving in a direction that was set toward a broad-based government."

Based on its Cold War experience, the US knows all about disreputable allies. Anti-communist strongmen in Zaire and elsewhere were often abusive but they served Washington's purposes. The Northern Alliance, which consists of five loosely aligned factions, may be about to join these ranks, albeit in a post-Cold War context.

The Amnesty International report on the Northern Alliance continues: "Women were often treated as the spoils of war. Armed groups affiliated with the Northern Alliance were responsible for widespread torture, including the rape of women and children, a practice condoned by leaders as a method of intimidating vanquished populations and of rewarding soldiers."

T. Kumar, an Afghan expert at Amnesty International, said Rabbani "did not take any steps to stop these abuses" even though, he said, Rabbani had a duty to do so as head of state.

Still, the scenes from Kabul and other areas of Afghanistan seized from the Taliban suggest that, whatever the abuses under the Northern Alliance, the Taliban were worse.
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