Crimes of War

November 2001

Reports of War Crimes in Afghanistan

In the space of a day, both the Northern Alliance and the Taliban were reported to have committed actions that constitute war crimes.

On November 12, as they advanced deep into Taliban territory on their campaign toward Kabul, Alliance soldiers killed enemy combatants who had surrendered and were begging for their lives. Not only did they murder captives, they also looted and mutilated their corpses. This is a war crime, under Article 3 common to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, which states: "Persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including members of the armed forces who have laid down their arms and those placed hors de combat by sickness, wounds, detention, or any other cause, shall in all circumstances be treated humanely."

On November 13, in the northeastern city of Kunduz, a Taliban commander announced that he was defecting and invited the Northern Alliance to enter and take control of the town. As the Alliance troops approached, they were ambushed by Taliban rockets. Many were killed in the sudden, chaotic retreat.

While the laws and customs of war do not prohibit ruses, decoys and other deceptive maneuvers (for example, staging an assemblage of ships when a land attack is actually being prepared), the Geneva Conventions (Article 37 of Protocol 1) do expressly prohibit "acts inviting the confidence of an adversary to lead him to believe that he is entitled to… protection under the rules of international law." In falsely defecting and promising allegiance to the Northern Alliance and in treacherously offering the city of Kunduz, the Taliban committed an act of perfidy.

Fighting still rages in Kunduz among various factions of Taliban and the Northern Alliance. The splintering of the Taliban, and bitter rivalries among Taliban chiefs, has intensified concern about the possibility of war crimes, and so has the continued Northern Alliance refusal to accept authentic offers of surrender.

Related chapters from Crimes of War: What the Public Should Know

Soldiers, rights of
POW camps
Protected persons
War crimes, Categories of
Hors de Combat
Perfidy

Selected Articles in the Media

War Stories - Unconventional Unwisdom
How the Bush administration is breaking the rules of war.
By Scott Shuger
MSNBC, December 6, 2001

Dead lie crushed or shot, in the dust, in ditches, amid the willows
By Luke Harding in Mazar-i-Sharif
The Guardian, November 29, 2001

How our Afghan allies applied the Geneva Convention
Prisoners massacred, the dead plundered for boots,
guns and even gold teeth
By Justin Huggler in Mazar-i-Sharif
Independent, November 29, 2001

Bloodbath at Afghan fort
By Angus Roxburgh
BBC News, November 27, 2001

Afghan Warfare: Taliban Trick Throws Rebels Into Retreat
By Dexter Filkins
The New York Times, November 14, 2001

Executions of P.O.W.'s Cast Doubts on Alliance
By David Rhode
The New York Times, November 13, 2001

Selected Reports from NGOs

Afghanistan: ICRC position on alleged ill-treatment of prisoners
Press Release 01/69
12 December 2001

Afghanistan: Mazar-i-Sharif inquiry
Amnesty International Press Release
Amnesty International, November 29, 2001

Afghanistan: Urgent Need to Decide How to Prosecute Captured Fighters
Human Rights Watch, November 26, 2001

"Afghanistan: Northern Alliance Must Accept Surrender Offer; Executions of Taliban Defectors in Kunduz Also Condemned."
Human Rights Watch.