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Tuesday, February 29, 2000
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Taliban Viewed U.S. Allegations An Insult To Islam
ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Friday's U.S. report on global human rights violations said the people of Afghanistan continue to suffer large-scale human rights abuses at the hands of the Taliban regime. The Taliban, which controls about 90 percent of the country, and its members, had "committed numerous serious human right abuses in the areas they occupied," the report said.
Opposition forces were also equally guilty of gross human rights transgressions, the State Department document said, including indiscriminately bombarding civilians, "political killings, abductions, ... torture, rape, arbitrary detention, and looting."
The report also said Afghanistan's overall human rights situation was extremely poor. Taliban forces reportedly were responsible "for political and other extra-judicial killings, including targeted killings, mass killings, summary executions and deaths in custody."
The Taliban Foreign Ministry, in a statement carried by the Pakistan-based private Afghan Islamic Press, urged Americans to stop their government from "interfering" in the affairs of other countries.
The statement, focusing on the portion related to Afghanistan, said the report constituted an "insult to Islam." The Taliban "strongly rejects" the U.S. government's allegations which betray its political motives against the Taliban, who are implementing Islamic tenets in the country. Life, security and property have been restored in Afghanistan as a result of enforcement of Islamic principles and values, said the statement.
The Taliban regime accused the United States of causing immense harm to "innocent people" in Iraq, Libya, Sudan, Algeria, Afghanistan and other parts of the world. "America is itself trampling upon human rights."
The U.S. government should reform itself before indulging in "false" propaganda against other countries despite their "ignorance" of Islam, the statement said. Adding by its "irresponsible" criticism of Islamic tenets the U.S. government has hurt the feelings of Muslims.
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