AWM News

Afghan City of Yakawlang Destroyed by Taliban

June 19, 2001

Thousands of Innocents Flee for Refuge as International Community Remains Silent

The lives of the people of Yakawlang have been devastated by the massacre of 300 town residents in January, 2001, followed by see-saw battles between Taliban and United Front forces during the past several months with terror tactics by troops from both sides, in addition to the destruction of the nearby Bamiyan Buddha statues. To make matters worse, Afghans must endure the worst drought in decades.

According to a UN official, “The Taliban carried out a heavy aerial bombardment of the city during the fighting and, after entering it, ground troops set fire to every building. The town has burnt to the ground.” Pakistani reporter, writer, and human rights advocate Ahmed Rashid writes, “Most of Yakowlang’s residents are now believed to be in the mountains of Hazarajat without food or water.”

Only a few months ago the International Community was outraged by the Taliban’s destruction of ancient Buddhist statues in the city of Bamiyan, just west of Yakawlang. Today, little is reported in the press about Yakawlang. 0nce eager to negotiate the fate of the statues with the Taliban, Foreign dignitaries and heads of state now remain silent as a human tragedy unfolds.

The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan in conjunction with the Afghan Women’s Mission has set up an emergency fund for the Yakawlang refugees who have arrived in Pakistan and are in desperate need of assistance.

Please RAWA’s special appeal on our website here

Read Ahmed Rashid’s article about the situation in Yakawlang here.

Background on Yakawlang
Excerpt from 14 June 2001 Human Rights Watch Report

http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/06/taliban-0614.htm

Control of Yakaolang has shifted several times over the last six months between the Taliban and Hizb-i Wahdat, a largely Shi’a Muslim and ethnic Hazara party in the northern-based United Front coalition. During a brief occupation of the district last January, Taliban forces summarily executed about 170 civilians in an apparent effort to punish and deter collaboration with Hizb-i Wahdat. On June 5, Hizb-i Wahdat recaptured Yakaolang, ending a month-long occupation of the district by the Taliban. After retreating, Taliban forces countered with a series of air raids in which their planes reportedly bombed the administrative center of Yakaolang, including the district hospital and an aid agency office. They entered the administrative center on June 10, where the following day they were said to have carried out widespread burning of houses and public and commercial buildings. About sixty civilians who had taken refuge in outlying regions of Yakaolang were reportedly arrested, and their whereabouts remain unknown.