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Afghanistan urged to face up to its bloody recent past

Afghanistan's top human rights official yesterday urged the country to confront the horrors of its past, calling for the prosecution of war crimes dating back more than 20 years and a purge of rights abusers from public office.

In a step toward a national reconciliation drive which the US military hopes will defuse a Taliban-led insurgency, the country's rights watchdog launched a report calling on the government to meet ordinary Afghans' "desire for justice."

"Proper attention has not been paid to a fundamental element of peace and stability," Sima Samar, chairwoman of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, said in a statement. "We at the commission believe that it is impossible to achieve peace without justice."

Samar was to present the report to President Hamid Karzai later Saturday along with the visiting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Few Afghans escaped suffering during the country's long and complex conflict, from the communist coup of 1978 through Soviet occupation and civil war to the US bombing campaign which toppled the repressive Taliban regime at the end of 2001.

In all, more than a million Afghans are believed to have died, while 6 million more fled the country to become refugees.

Some observers caution that a public examination of past crimes could inflame dangerous ethnic tensions which still color the country's emerging democratic policies. Faction leaders who stand accused of responsibility for past atrocities remain powerful.

But others argue that continued impunity for figures, including warlords who helped the US drive out the Taliban, is a stain on the international community's efforts to rebuild Afghanistan and is sowing the seeds for future conflict.

The US military, which is reducing its dependence on militia forces suspected of continuing abuses, has recently begun calling on Karzai to kick-start a national reconciliation process to include "non-criminal" Taliban.

However, it remains unclear how the US-backed leader, whose Cabinet still includes several faction leaders accused of rights abuses, plans to proceed.

The government-mandated commission said it used questionnaires and focus groups to contact thousands of Afghans last year. It said 90 percent of those consulted wanted human rights offenders removed from government posts while 40 percent demanded the prosecution of "notorious perpetrators."

More than two-thirds said they themselves had suffered crimes against humanity or war crimes, the commission said.

"They believed that the crimes have persistently occurred throughout the last two and a half decades of war and continue even today," it said. "The people are of the opinion that continued impunity has given the perpetrators the opportunity to commit further abuses with no fear of prosecution."
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