[R-G] Foreign Troops Accused in Helmand Raid Massacre

[Anthony Fenton]

Afghan Recovery Report 	
Afghanistan home
Foreign Troops Accused in Helmand Raid Massacre
http://iwpr.net/?p=arr&s=f&o=341341&apc_state=henh
Residents of a southern village tell of a night of violence at the  
hands of foreign and Afghan soldiers.

By Matiullah Minapal and Aziz Ahmad Tassal in Lashkar Gah (ARR No.  
276, 11-Dec-07)
A young man lies in bed in the Emergency Hospital in Lashkar Gah. His  
throat is bandaged, and he can barely speak. Holding his hand to his  
wound, he is clearly in pain as he tells of his ordeal in a whisper,  
interjecting over and over again, “My two brothers! My two brothers!”

The man’s name is Abdul Manaan, but locals call him “Naanwai”, “the  
baker”, as he has a bread shop in Lakari, about two kilometres from  
the village of Toube in the southern Garmseer district of Helmand  
province.

Abdul Manaan claims he suffered slashes to his neck during a  
nighttime raid which locals say was carried out by a mixed force of  
foreign and Afghan troops helicoptered into Toube on November 18.  
Eyewitnesses say the soldiers killed 18 civilians in an attack that  
was brutal even by the standards of the Afghan conflict.

Although the raid is said to have happened three weeks ago, there has  
been no news or comment about it outside Helmand.

“It was about two in the morning when we heard the aircraft, and I  
woke up,” said Abdul Manaan. “I looked out but I couldn’t see  
anything. My two younger brothers who were in another room came to me  
to ask what was going on, but I told them, ‘Nothing, just go back to  
sleep’. They went back to bed, as did I.

“Then I heard a noise on the roof, and I looked out and there were  
armed men up there. They climbed down and came into my brothers’  
room, and asked them if they were Taleban. One of my brothers said  
‘No, we are shopkeepers, come and search the house. We have nothing,  
no guns or anything’. The soldiers shot him on the spot. My other  
brother they brought to me, and tied his hands. Then they slit his  
throat. I could hear him gurgling. He was still making a noise when  
they got to me.

“One of the soldiers spoke a little Pashto - he asked whether we were  
Taleban and I said no, we were shopkeepers. They made me stand up  
against the wall and tied my hands. They put the knife to my neck and  
cut me three times. Then they threw an old tarpaulin over me and left.

“But I wasn’t dead.”

As Abdul Manaan lay under the tarpaulin holding his hand to his neck  
wound, he heard the soldiers moving around the house and children  
screaming.

When the soldiers left after about half an hour, he said, “I got up  
and went to my brother. He was cold.”

He found the women and children alive in another room, together with  
some who had come from other houses. “Everyone was screaming and  
crying,” he said.

In the morning, Abdul Manaan was taken to hospital in Lashkar Gah.

“I survived, but my brothers are dead,” he said. “What shall I do now?”

Residents of Helmand province have grown used to aerial strikes over  
the past several months. As the Taleban and foreign forces battle for  
control of the province, civilians are often caught in the middle.

The international troops accuse the Taleban of using women and  
children as “human shields”, while the insurgents and increasingly  
also the Afghan government condemn the foreign forces for reckless  
disregard for human life.

But what reportedly happened in Toube was quite different from the  
more detached, if horrific, bombing that has destroyed homes and  
families.

Abdul Manaan’s story is echoed by dozens of villagers from Toube whom  
IWPR interviewed as they underwent treatment in Lashkar Gah or  
accompanied injured relatives there.

All spoke consistently of soldiers breaking down doors, shooting  
children and cutting throats. They agreed that the raid began at two  
in the morning with the sound of helicopters bringing in dozens of  
armed men, both Afghan and foreign.

One man called Nabi Jan told IWPR, “At two in the morning on Sunday,  
foreign troops entered my house and shot my children in their  
cradles. I collected their scattered brains with my own hands and  
placed them near the bodies.

“They killed 18 people that night. I swear none of them were Taleban  
fighters,” he said, his anger making his voice rise in tone. “They  
killed civilians - people like me - with rough farmers’ hands. If you  
don’t believe me, then come with me to the cemetery. I will dig up  
the bodies to show you.”

According to Nabi Jan, the soldiers left at about five in the  
morning, when it was still dark. He and what is left of his family  
are now camped out by the river, in the winter cold, afraid to go home.

Borjan, a neighbour waiting in front of the Emergency Hospital in  
Lashkar Gah, confirmed the story.

“I was a witness,” he said. “Soldiers came into our houses. They shot  
everyone they could find, including people asleep in bed. In one  
house, babies were shot in their cradles. Three people had their  
throats cut, but one survived, and he is now in this hospital.”

According to Borjan, the death toll was 17.

“Two of my cousins were killed in this attack,” said another man  
waiting outside the hospital, Noor Mohammad.

“It was nighttime and we heard aircraft. Soldiers came to our house.  
We hid and did not open the door, so they broke it down. When they  
entered the house, they began firing, and they killed four people.  
They were foreign and Afghan army troops. When they left, they gunned  
down anyone they could find.”

Garmseer lies about 70 km south of Lashkar Gah, on the border with  
Pakistan. The remoteness of its location and the porous nature of the  
frontier have ensured that this is one of the most unstable districts  
in an extremely troubled province.

The Taleban control most of the district except for a few government- 
held administrative centres, and clashes between the insurgents and  
the army are frequent.

Still, the stories about what happened in Toube are exceptional, and  
the news spread quickly across Helmand by word of mouth, inflaming  
the mood. On November 20, a group of nearly 100 elders from the  
district came to Lashkar Gah to speak with government representatives  
at the offices of the Afghan National Security Directorate.

The emotionally charged meeting was attended by representatives of  
the Provincial Reconstruction Team, the joint military and civilian  
force tasked with providing security and rebuilding Helmand,  
operating under the mandate of NATO’s International Security  
Assistance Force, ISAF.

The elders demanded that foreign forces stay out of Garmseer and  
asked for military operations there to end.

“We hate the government and NATO because they kill our women and  
elders,” said one of the delegation, Khan Agha. “They won’t let us  
get on with our lives; they slaughter us.”

Khan Agha said he had turned against the Afghan National Army.

“It is bad enough that foreigners do these things, but now the Afghan  
army is with them. We are angry that even Afghans show us no  
sympathy. I used to cooperate with the army, but now, if I have an  
opportunity, I will do my best to hurt them,” he said.

One after another, the elders told their stories, all sounding  
remarkably similar.

“My name is Hajji Ali Mohammad,” said one old man, who was so hunched  
over that he could barely walk. Tears ran down his face as he spoke.  
“It was during the night that armed men entered my house and shot two  
of my sons. One of them had just got married a month ago. My sons  
were not members of the Taleban, they were farmers. We are poor  
farmers.”

Mohammad Hussain Andiwal, the police chief for Helmand province,  
addressed the gathering at length. He said he would raise the Toube  
violence with international forces.

“I can feel your pain,” he told the elders. “Even a heart of stone  
would melt with these sorrows. I will speak with the foreigners and  
make them promise not to kill civilians again like this.”

According to the PRT, the incident at Toube is still being investigated.

“There was an operation [in Garmseer] about that time,” said one PRT  
official, speaking on condition of anonymity. “And we were aware that  
allegations had been made. We found no evidence at the time to  
support these charges, but an investigation is ongoing.”

It may be difficult to pinpoint blame, assuming the accusations made  
by Toube residents are substantiated.

Several military groups operate in Helmand, and not all of them  
answer to the British-led ISAF or follow its rules of engagement.

The United States-led Coalition also has soldiers in the province,  
and US Special Forces work with and mentor Afghan troops.

PRT officials were unable to comment on who is most likely to have  
been involved.

Most Helmand residents do not distinguish between British, American,  
Canadian, or Danish soldiers, using the term “foreigner” for all.

Helmand’s police chief cautioned against blaming foreigners for all  
of the province’s troubles and called on the assembled elders to  
reflect on the terrible events of the past 30 years.

“Any time we have had hopes that our country would be rebuilt, that  
education would revive, or that we would have doctors, engineers,  
hospitals… we get caught up in disaster. When the Russians were  
defeated, then commanders came from our own people and carried out  
evil acts,” he said, referring to the internecine strife between  
Afghan factions in the Nineties.

“Things took place in Kabul that were worse even than what happened  
with the Russians. Who did these things? Were they British? Were they  
Dutch? Were they Americans? No, it was we who did them!”

Andiwal asked for cooperation from the elders in trying to resolve  
the problems.

“If you do not want things to improve, then two years from now there  
will be nothing left,” said Andiwal. “Let us come to your villages,  
and we will listen to you and work with you.”

At this, an old man in the corner rose slowly to his feet. He leaned  
on a cane, shaking as he spoke.

“So this is our fault?” he said. “You, the government, cannot  
maintain security. You have closed our schools. Many countries have  
come here, and they cannot do anything. So how can we?”

Matiullah Minapal and Aziz Ahmad Tassal are IWPR staff reporters in  
Lashkar Gah.