Afghanistan asks NATO to guard mass grave

Afghanistan said Wednesday it wanted NATO troops to help guard a mass grave site thought to contain the remains of up to 2,000 Taliban prisoners killed by pro-U.S. militia in 2001 after attempts to loot it.

Presidential spokesman Humayun Hamidzada told AFP Kabul had decided to ask for assistance after armed criminals apparently attempted to remove bodies from the remote desert site in northern Jawzjan province.

"There have been attempts to remove remains from the Dasht-i-Laili site," Hamidzada said.

"We are in the process of asking NATO to assist us in protecting the site."
NATO spokesman Captain Mark Windsor told AFP the force had not yet received any such request.

The site is believed to contain the remains of Taliban prisoners allegedly massacred in late 2001 by fighters loyal to notorious Afghan warlord Abdul Rashid Dostam, who helped US-led forces oust the Taliban regime.

Dostam -- an ethnic Uzbek and former general who is now loyal to Kabul but maintains control of substantial oil and gas reserves in the north -- has been the chief suspect since reports of the alleged massacre surfaced in 2002.

Destroying evidence of war crimes

Nader Nadery, a spokesman for the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) confirmed the attempted robberies, saying they were a "clear attempt" to destroy the "physical evidence of war crimes".

"Our research -- interviews with locals and eye-witnesses -- revealed that some locals, armed people, were involved," he said.

Neither Hamidzada nor Nadery expressly pointed the finger of blame at Dostam.

Taliban prisoners captured after a major battle in northeastern Kunduz province were allegedly packed into shipping containers and left to suffocate, or were shot through the container walls, before being buried in mass graves.

Since late 2001, the remnants of the Taliban have waged an increasingly bloody insurgency against Kabul and about 70,000 foreign forces have been deployed here to support the government.