October 7, 2008

Illegal Killing

By Qayum Babak

Wali Mohammed Ibrahim Khail was killed on  November 8, 2006, in front of his house by American Special Forces with bullets from a  machine gun. He was a member of  the " National Front  Party" and a commander of a Jihadi group. His house is located in Ali Abad village in the Charbolak District of Balkh Province.

Wali Mohammed was 27 and in the beginning of Karzai's government he was a commander of division  70 of the Mechanised force . He was the older son of the famous Jihadi Commander, Akhtar  Mohammed Khan Ibrahim Khail, who is in charge of  Northern branch of  the National Front Party. The National Front Party was founded by Pir Syyed Ahmad Gilani, a jihadi leader and an ally of president Karzai. Vardak, the defence minister of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is also a  founder and leader of National Front Party.

Abdolbashir, 25, is a resident of Ali Aabad village and a neighbour of the victim. He is now a soldier of the security forces in Balkh. He was present when the  incident happened. As a witness he said:

"It was at about 4 pm on 17 th AQRAB (November 8). Me and Wali Mohammed both were sitting in the front of the gate. Three American armoured vehicles with machine guns entered our alleyway.  First an Afghan got off a vehicle and asked who commander Wali Mohammed was. Wali Mohammed answered that he was. The Afghan man got on the vehicle and this vehicle moved a few meters forward. Then an American soldier quickly with his machine gun got off and ordered us to parade.  We both obeyed the order. The American soldier immediately shot Wali Mohammed.  More than 10 bullets were shot on Wali Mohammed's right hand side body and face. Wali Mohammed was martyred (died) immediately.”

American Special Forces" change their teams every six months. They refuse to inform the media. An Afghan interpreter of the American Special Forces in Balkh province , who wanted to remain anonymous, believed that the incident  of killing Wali Mohammed Ibrahim Khail was a direct order by the high commander of the forces in  Afghanistan based on Bagram Airbase. He added that none apart form Mr "Jovey," as general  commander of  the American Special Forces, has the right to talk about this incident. Even the UN political representative (UNMA) in Mazar Sharif refused to give information and mention the name of the commander of this special American military group involved in the killing of Wali Mohammed.

The father of Wali Mohammed, Akhtar Mohammed Ibrahim Khail, said:

"One month earlier than  the killing of my son a group of the American Special Forces had come and searched  our house and they had found no evidence  against us. We officially had handed in our arms and ammunition during the DDR programme (it was about collecting arms by the government started in 2003) and we are allied to Mr. Karzai. If my son was guilty why they would not arrest and put him on trial?"

On the morning of September 17, , about 2 months before  Wali Mohammed's death, 4 helicopters of the  American Special Forces  from Bagram Airbase  landed at  Ali Abad village in Balkh. The force surrounded the resident of Wali Mohammed and his father Akhtar Mohammed and arrested both of them and took them away to Bagram. After investigation it was decided there were no grounds to hold them and they were released.

Commanders Akhtar Mohammed and his son Wali Mohammed were both cooperating with the Islamic Emirate of the  Taliban in Balkh province and their forces were allied to the Taliban and were fighting against their enemies.

Commander Akhtar Mohammed does not consider his previous cooperation with the Taliban as serious. He claims that the fanatic people who previously had organisational disagreement  with him  now  serve as  the top government officials  in Balkh province giving incorrect reports to the Americans. The American forces then take military actions without further care and attention and he believes that his son, Wali Mohammed, was the victim of  such kind of actions.

Mr Akhtar Mohammed, as a proof for his claims, mentioned a document signed and stamped and submitted to the Americans that stated "in Charbolak area Akhtar Mohammed has prepared 1000 armed men and horses to attack Mazar Sharif city". He believes that on basis of these false reports to the Americans, his son was killed. Akhtar Mohammed Ibrahim Khail did not name the person who reported, signed and stamped this report.

In spite of this claim by Akhta Mohammed, Mr A'ta Mohammed the Governor of Balkh Province, in response to death of Wali Mohammed, condemned the American action in a press conference. He wanted  the  foreign forces to inform the top officials in the Balkh province before taking any military action.

During that time, the commander of the security forces in Charbolak was lieutenant colonel (DEGARMAN) Behlool Khan. Behlool Khan said:

"Before this incident we had received no information in this regard and commandership of Charbolak security force knew nothing about it. We nly went to the place when we became aware of this incident; that the Americans had come to Ali Abad and had killed Wali Mohammed".

Mohammed Anwar, the Chief of Ali Abad village in Charbolak says, "In this village we are all loyal to the government and all armed people joined DDR [disarmament, demobilisation and reconstruction]. In Ali Abaad there is neither army nor military activists  against the government". Mr Anwar regarded Wali Mohammed's death as regrettable, an illegal and unjust action.

According to the laws of  International Human Rights and Common Article 3 of the 1949  of Geneva Convention, "people who do not actively take part in conflicts including military people who surrender  their arms and those who are seen as inactive militants because of illness, injury, being in custody or  in any other condition, should be treated humanely". According to this clause, committing any sort of violence including killing, cutting organs, cruel behaviour and torture is not allowed.

Ibrahim Dehghan, 45, was taking his cattle from the farm to his house during the incident:

"I was on my way when I heard the sound of   machine gun shots. First I thought that there was a clash between the smugglers and police, but when I moved closer I saw the American armoured vehicles were going towards the city. After a while the voice of crying and screaming was heard. When I entered the alley it became clear that the Americans had killed a man called Wali Mohammed".

Dehghan believes it is a waste of time to follow the case of the killing of Wali Mohammed because he had told the top officials about what he had seen, when the officials had arrived at the spot after this incident,   but the “officials have not been able to take any measure against the Americans".

After killing Mr  Wali Mohammed Ibrahim Khail, President Karzai had  given a task of investigation to a top mission under leadership of Shehzadah Masud,  an advising secretary of the president. But after more than a year the results of this investigation and any practical measure to be taken in this regard are  not clear.

Latif Jan Sahak, a journalist of Azad Television of Shemshad,  attended the meeting place to cover the news says."The chairman of the president Karzai's investigation board, Mr Shehzad Masud had a meeting  with the top commander of the American Special Forces for more than 3 hours behind closed doors,” he said. “After this meeting Mr Masud only said that he would report the result of this talk to the President Karzai and the decisions made would  be announced later in Kabul. The commander of the American Special Forces  rejected to see other members of the board and talk with the reporters".

Because the Government has not followed  up the case of this death, this incident is a mystery and shows that the Foreign forces work as "independent generals". The psychological effects of these actions by the Americans, on Charbolak people, make people  regard top officials in the government as incompetent and useless.

Jan Gol dehghan, a 25 year old peasent from the District of Charbolak, says that "after this incident of killing, whenever I see foreign forces moving somewhere, I  think that they have decided to kill  another country fellow and I regret that the Afghan leaders are not able to stop their illegal killings".

Qayum Babak is a reporter for the Key Group