Thread: Afghan Villagers Who Survived Reign Of Terror Express Fear & Alarm Over Detainee Rele

Afghan Villagers Who Survived Reign Of Terror Express Fear And Alarm Over Detainee Release

By Caroline Schaeffer 13 hours ago



Americans aren’t alone in their concern over the release of five high-level Taliban commanders. Afghan villagers who survived their reign of terror expressed fear and alarm upon learning that these men have been taken out of U.S. custody.
These five led scorched-earth campaigns, reports The Wall Street Journal, which caused 300,000 to flee for their lives.

When the Taliban seized control of this area from their Northern Alliance rivals in 1999, they systematically demolished entire villages, blowing up houses, burning fields and seeding the land with mines, according to two comprehensive studies of war crimes and atrocities during wars in Afghanistan and human rights reports.

Villagers who lived through the destruction say they think the five will return to terrorism.
via WSJ:

Khwaja Gul Ahmad, a 74-year-old farmer, said his son, Khwaja Ibrahim, was killed by Taliban artillery fire during the fighting in Shomali.

Standing by the grave of his son, Mr. Ahmad’s eyes welled with tears when he learned about Mr. Fazl’s release from a reporter. “If he is released, he will burn our houses again because he doesn’t shake hands with the government,” Mr. Ahmad said.

Mohammed Fazl is the most feared of the five. Of the four remaining, one served as the Taliban’s military liaison to the al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, another led Taliban forces against U.S. armed forces during the 2001 invasion, and the two other former detainees have been linked to other Islamic extremist groups, including al Qaeda.
President Obama’s decision to release high-level Taliban leaders has unintended consequences which could affect the Afghan population in a terrible way. Let’s hope the five won’t return to terrorism – for the people of Afghanistan, and for us.

http://www.ijreview.com/2014/06/1447...ainee-release/