[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 153 (Wednesday, November 7, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2031]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




TALIBAN HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES NOT COMPARABLE TO CIVILIAN DEATHS RESULTING 
                           FROM U.S. BOMBING

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. DOUG BEREUTER

                              of nebraska

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 7, 2001

  Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, this Member wishes to commend to his 
colleagues the October 27, 2001, editorial from the Omaha World-Herald 
entitled ``Taliban Atrocities.''
  Despite its great efforts to prevent civilian deaths in Afghanistan, 
the U.S. will inadvertently kill some civilians as it continues its 
bombings against Taliban-held areas. The civilian deaths which have 
already occurred (and those which likely will occur) certainly and very 
obviously are not part of a concerted scheme to kill the Afghan people. 
They are (and will be) an unfortunate consequence of the war on 
terrorism and those who continue to harbor terrorists. Unfortunately, 
civilian deaths simply are a part of any war.
  Contrast that fact with the conditions, as outlined in the editorial, 
which the Taliban has inflicted upon the Afghan people.
  Mr. Speaker, it is critical that the U.S. win not only the war on 
terrorism but also the media war to uncover the horrific human rights 
abuses systematically implemented by the Taliban against the Afghan 
people.

       [From the Omaha World-Herald, Saturday, October 27, 2001]

                           Taliban Atrocities

                          (By John Cottschalk)

       The Taliban's ambassador to Pakistan sounded a hypocritical 
     note when he claimed that the United States is carrying out 
     genocide against the Afghan people.
       On the contrary, the United States has gone to great 
     lengths to minimize civilian casualties. Although accidental 
     bombings of residential structures have occurred, military 
     analyst William Arkin noted in The Washington Post that for 
     U.S. military planners, ``avoidance of civilian casualties 
     has become institutionalized even to the point of rejecting 
     important targets if there is a high probability of civilian 
     harm.''
       The Taliban's claim of the moral high ground is further 
     undermined by the fact that it is using Afghan civilians as 
     human shields by relocating its military hardware into 
     schools and mosques.
       It is especially brazen of the Taliban to pose as a 
     champion of human rights, considering the horrors it has 
     imposed on the Afghan people in recent years. Here are only a 
     few incidents in the lengthy inventory of human rights abuses 
     by the Taliban:
       In January of this year, the organization Human Rights 
     Watch reports, the Taliban conducted a summary execution of 
     300 civilian adult males after it retook the town of 
     Yorkaolang.
       In September 2000, Taliban forces used bombs, shells and 
     cluster munitions indiscriminately against residential areas 
     in the town of Taloquan and surrounding villages before 
     capturing the area, according to statements by refugees.
       In May 2000, Taliban forces summarily executed at least 200 
     prisoners near a mountain pass northwest of the town of Pul-i 
     Khumri.
       In August 1998, the Taliban captured Mazar-i Sharif, a 
     strategic city in northern Afghanistan. Here is how Human 
     Rights Watch described the Taliban's subsequent actions:
       ``Within the first few hours of seizing control of the 
     city, Taliban troops killed scores of civilians in 
     indiscriminate attacks, shooting noncombatants and suspected 
     combatants alike in residential areas, city streets and 
     markets. Witnesses described it as a `killing frenzy' as the 
     advancing forces shot at `anything that moved.' ''
       Anti-Taliban guerrilla groups, including fighters for the 
     Northern Alliance now supported by the United States, by no 
     means have a spotless human rights record either. Over the 
     past decade, such forces have attacked residential areas with 
     artillery fire and carried out summary executions of Taliban 
     soldiers and suspected supporters, according to Human Rights 
     Watch.
       Such considerations indicate the difficulties that lie 
     ahead in erecting a stable, democratic government in 
     Afghanistan in the post-Taliban era.
       As for the Taliban, it stands damned by its own 
     disreputable actions. In light of its appalling record, it 
     has no moral standing to lecture the United States about 
     respect for human life and protection of innocent civilians.



     

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