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The man lay on the floor beneath colored quilts, his leg in a homemade splint tied with rags. He says he was attacked by ethnic Uzbek fighters, and he is just one of hundreds of Pashtun villagers who say that Uzbek troops are looting, raping and kidnapping under the guise of disarming Pashtuns in northern Afghanistan.
''They beat me with a wooden club and they stabbed my leg two times with the bayonet of a rifle,'' said the man, Mohammedin, 30. ''I fainted and fell down and they smashed my leg with the club.''
He said he was beaten by two Uzbeks whom he knew by sight, Commander Wali Jan and Commander Ali, after he refused to give them money they had demanded.
Both are from Faryab Province, where his own village, Chilgazi, lies, and are commanders under Abdul Rashid Dostum, an Uzbek general who is the main ally of American forces against the Taliban in northern Afghanistan.
Thousands of Pashtuns from the provinces of Balkh and Faryab have fled their villages in recent weeks, as news has spread of the punitive raids the Uzbeks have been conducting. They have abandoned their homes and moved their families west into the area controlled by the Tajik commander Ismail Khan, who appears to be treating the Pashtuns more fairly.
The combined forces of the Northern Alliance conducted a disarmament campaign in Pashtun villages in December, particularly in areas where Taliban fighters were thought to be still active. But General Dostum's troops have continued the operation into areas where there remained little apparent threat by the Taliban, and villagers are complaining that the Uzbeks are using the opportunity to loot and extort money and even empty the area of Pashtuns altogether.
Approximately one million Pashtuns live in northern Afghanistan scattered across most of the northern provinces, and concentrated around the two agricultural cities of Balkh and Kunduz. The largest ethnic group in Afghanistan, they are a minority in the north, but enjoyed great security under the Taliban, since it was a Pashtun-dominated movement. Since the Taliban's fall, they have become victims of reprisals from ethnic groups who suffered under the Taliban.
Amir Jan Naseri, the Pashtun governor of the town of Balkh, which lies just west of the northern capital, Mazar-i-Sharif, said he has been receiving a constant stream of villagers and elders with complaints since mid-December. During a recent interview in his home in Mazar-i-Sharif, he produced a written list of villages that have been subjected to violence, mostly by Uzbek troops, but also by troops of another ethnic minority, the Hazara.
''It is all marked here,'' he said. ''Twenty-five days ago they attacked the village of Qara Barga in Chemtal district. Twenty-two people were killed. They killed and looted houses, cars, tractors, carpets, windows and they kidnapped seven girls. You can go and check.''
''Yangi Qala, three people were killed, all of the homes looted, nothing left. Qare Nausharotaki, completely looted.'' He read on down the list. ''Qare Kakrak, the women. . .'' and suddenly he stopped. ''No, I cannot tell you about this,'' he said, folding up the list. For Pashtuns, the rape of their women is a shame that can never be mentioned.
Farther west, Pashtun villagers said alarming stories of girls being kidnapped and women being raped and thrown down wells made them leave. In Chilgazi, Mr. Mohammedin said, families hired a truck to flee to this town in the neighboring province of Badghis. Only a few men remained in the village, among them Mohammedin and his elderly father, Sher Mohammed.
The men who stayed behind said that when the Uzbek soldiers came they looted the whole village, taking even the doors and window frames from houses. Mr. Mohammedin said the soldiers took his family's stock of wheat and hay. After the attack, the few men who had stayed behind fled here.
The villagers said the Uzbeks had not come to disarm them, but appeared to be trying to scare the Pashtuns into leaving the region forever. ''We did not have any weapons because the Taliban had already disarmed us,'' said the village headman, Abdul Mohammed. ''They do not like Pashtuns. They say this is Turkestan and Pashtuns should not live here.''
The Uzbeks are a Turkic people, and together with the Turkmens, Tajiks and Hazaras, dominate Afghanistan's north. Pashtuns in the region readily admit that other ethnic groups suffered under the Taliban.
''The Taliban did not treat the Uzbeks well, but that was not our problem, that was the Taliban,'' said Turjan, 35, a Pashtun driver, who said that Uzbek soldiers stole his truck in the village of Ghormach. ''No one was Taliban in our village. If we were, why did we not escape with the Taliban?''
[United Nations officials in Herat said they had raised objections over the behavior of the Uzbek troops with the central government in Kabul, which in turn raised the issue with General Dostum. Now deputy defense minister, General Dostum issued a statement saying his troops were working to ensure security. United Nations officials said they hoped it was a sign that he would put an end to the worst violence.]
The Tajik governor of one district in Badghis confirmed the Pashtun complaints. He said Uzbek forces took control of his district for 15 days after the Taliban had left and before he had returned from exile. ''They killed six Pashtuns and took one girl and they looted,'' he said. Now they have gone back to Faryab province and his own men are in charge, he said.
''They beat me with a wooden club and they stabbed my leg two times with the bayonet of a rifle,'' said the man, Mohammedin, 30. ''I fainted and fell down and they smashed my leg with the club.''
He said he was beaten by two Uzbeks whom he knew by sight, Commander Wali Jan and Commander Ali, after he refused to give them money they had demanded.
Both are from Faryab Province, where his own village, Chilgazi, lies, and are commanders under Abdul Rashid Dostum, an Uzbek general who is the main ally of American forces against the Taliban in northern Afghanistan.
Thousands of Pashtuns from the provinces of Balkh and Faryab have fled their villages in recent weeks, as news has spread of the punitive raids the Uzbeks have been conducting. They have abandoned their homes and moved their families west into the area controlled by the Tajik commander Ismail Khan, who appears to be treating the Pashtuns more fairly.
The combined forces of the Northern Alliance conducted a disarmament campaign in Pashtun villages in December, particularly in areas where Taliban fighters were thought to be still active. But General Dostum's troops have continued the operation into areas where there remained little apparent threat by the Taliban, and villagers are complaining that the Uzbeks are using the opportunity to loot and extort money and even empty the area of Pashtuns altogether.
Approximately one million Pashtuns live in northern Afghanistan scattered across most of the northern provinces, and concentrated around the two agricultural cities of Balkh and Kunduz. The largest ethnic group in Afghanistan, they are a minority in the north, but enjoyed great security under the Taliban, since it was a Pashtun-dominated movement. Since the Taliban's fall, they have become victims of reprisals from ethnic groups who suffered under the Taliban.
Amir Jan Naseri, the Pashtun governor of the town of Balkh, which lies just west of the northern capital, Mazar-i-Sharif, said he has been receiving a constant stream of villagers and elders with complaints since mid-December. During a recent interview in his home in Mazar-i-Sharif, he produced a written list of villages that have been subjected to violence, mostly by Uzbek troops, but also by troops of another ethnic minority, the Hazara.
''It is all marked here,'' he said. ''Twenty-five days ago they attacked the village of Qara Barga in Chemtal district. Twenty-two people were killed. They killed and looted houses, cars, tractors, carpets, windows and they kidnapped seven girls. You can go and check.''
''Yangi Qala, three people were killed, all of the homes looted, nothing left. Qare Nausharotaki, completely looted.'' He read on down the list. ''Qare Kakrak, the women. . .'' and suddenly he stopped. ''No, I cannot tell you about this,'' he said, folding up the list. For Pashtuns, the rape of their women is a shame that can never be mentioned.
Farther west, Pashtun villagers said alarming stories of girls being kidnapped and women being raped and thrown down wells made them leave. In Chilgazi, Mr. Mohammedin said, families hired a truck to flee to this town in the neighboring province of Badghis. Only a few men remained in the village, among them Mohammedin and his elderly father, Sher Mohammed.
The men who stayed behind said that when the Uzbek soldiers came they looted the whole village, taking even the doors and window frames from houses. Mr. Mohammedin said the soldiers took his family's stock of wheat and hay. After the attack, the few men who had stayed behind fled here.
The villagers said the Uzbeks had not come to disarm them, but appeared to be trying to scare the Pashtuns into leaving the region forever. ''We did not have any weapons because the Taliban had already disarmed us,'' said the village headman, Abdul Mohammed. ''They do not like Pashtuns. They say this is Turkestan and Pashtuns should not live here.''
The Uzbeks are a Turkic people, and together with the Turkmens, Tajiks and Hazaras, dominate Afghanistan's north. Pashtuns in the region readily admit that other ethnic groups suffered under the Taliban.
''The Taliban did not treat the Uzbeks well, but that was not our problem, that was the Taliban,'' said Turjan, 35, a Pashtun driver, who said that Uzbek soldiers stole his truck in the village of Ghormach. ''No one was Taliban in our village. If we were, why did we not escape with the Taliban?''
[United Nations officials in Herat said they had raised objections over the behavior of the Uzbek troops with the central government in Kabul, which in turn raised the issue with General Dostum. Now deputy defense minister, General Dostum issued a statement saying his troops were working to ensure security. United Nations officials said they hoped it was a sign that he would put an end to the worst violence.]
The Tajik governor of one district in Badghis confirmed the Pashtun complaints. He said Uzbek forces took control of his district for 15 days after the Taliban had left and before he had returned from exile. ''They killed six Pashtuns and took one girl and they looted,'' he said. Now they have gone back to Faryab province and his own men are in charge, he said.
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