Balkh, Afghanistan -- The five men who raped 14-year-old Fatima,
her mother and two younger sisters last month have no fear of
the law.
For eight hours, they took turns assaulting her, her mother,
Nazu, and sisters Bibi Amina, 10, and Bibi Aisha, 12, all the
while training a Kalashnikov assault rifle on the girls'
disabled father, Jamaluddin. Before they left, the men took the
family's life savings -- about $142 -- and a carpet from the
living room.
They returned the next day to warn them not to go to the
authorities. "They said that they would kill us if we told
anyone," Jamaluddin said.
The family says the rapists were soldiers of Gen. Abdul Rashid
Dostum's army, the Junbish-e-Millie (National Movement), which
has been terrorizing thousands of civilians in the northern
province of Balkh since the fall of the Taliban in November.
Although the war is over, some of Dostum's soldiers, who are
mostly ethnic Uzbeks but include ethnic Tajik fighters, go out
almost nightly to rob and rape Pashtuns, the ethnic group that
composed most of the Taliban militia but is a minority in the
north.
Such abuses are a clear illustration that the interim government
of Prime Minister Hamid Karzai has been unable to stem
lawlessness throughout much of Afghanistan.
"A lot of houses have been looted and a lot of women have been
raped, but people are afraid to talk because they have been
threatened," said Amir Jan, the leader of the Pashtun community
in Balkh province. "They are afraid for their lives."
Fear over the widespread persecution has overcome even
international aid workers, who are virtually tight-lipped when
asked about it.
"I have heard of such cases being committed by a local warlord,"
said an official of a well-known aid agency. "You should talk to
the Pashtuns."
The danger of reprisals makes it difficult to assess the number
of victims. Dostum's soldiers enjoy the protection of their
powerful leader, and the poorly equipped, unpaid and overmatched
local police force is unable to arrest those who commit crimes,
conceded Amir Hamza, the Tajik police chief of Balkh, a town 12
miles west of the provincial capital, Mazar-e-Sharif.
"Junbish commanders protect their soldiers from prosecution,"
Hamza said. "We cannot do anything."
Hamza said he has received many complaints about looting but
just one regarding rape. He said it is likely that many more
women have been raped but that they are too ashamed or afraid to
tell the police.
A convicted rapist can be executed, according to Islamic Sharia
law, Hamza said. But because he has just 100 police officers and
there are 800 Junbish soldiers in the area, he has refused to
confront the men who raped Nazu and her daughters. In fact, he
said one of the attackers lives a block away from Nazu's home.
Provincial security officials say the only way to stop the reign
of terror is to disarm the fighters and begin punishing those
who resort to criminal activity.
The 47-year-old Dostum is well known for his brutal rule in
northern Afghanistan, and human rights groups have denounced him
over the years.
He was one of the most feared enforcers of President Mohammad
Najibullah, the communist leader who ruled Afghanistan after the
withdrawal of Soviet troops in 1989. He switched sides in 1992
when it became apparent that mujahedeen fighters would topple
Najibullah. His troops later killed many men and raped women and
children in the carnage that engulfed Kabul.
Last week, an attempt was made to disarm Dostum's entire 3,000-
man army after some 50 people died in northern Balkh and Sar-e-
Pul provinces in clashes between Junbish and the forces of
Dostum's rival Tajik warlord, Ustad Atta Mohammed, who until
recently was Dostum's right-hand man. Government mediators
attempted to persuade the two warlords to take their militiamen
off the streets.
But dozens of armed fighters continue to loiter during the
daytime hours and loot, rape and extort by night.
Surgul, an elderly man with a stately gray beard, said Junbish
men robbed him of $300. They robbed Faiz Mohammad, a man in his
early 30s, after he sold the last of his cotton crops at the
Balkh bazaar, he said. Mohammad said they also took 30 sheep
from his neighbor, Nuriddin.
Some locals say the Karzai government and the international
community must get tougher with Dostum. When the U.N.-backed
interim regime was formed in December, Dostum was appointed
deputy defense minister -- a step seen by many as a desperate
attempt to keep him from undermining the new administration.
In an apparent attempt to introduce the unruly Dostum to
statesmanship, an elite unit of U.S. Special Forces reportedly
advises him whenever he travels in the north. "They travel in
his car and are always by his side during military briefings,"
said Amir Jan, the Pashtun leader.
Jan, however, does not blame the Americans for aiding Dostum.
"America doesn't support Dostum so that he can loot people's
homes," he said. "We understand that."
But try telling that to Juma Khan of the village of Yakhdon,
about 20 miles west of Mazar-e-Sharif. Khan, 15, shuddered when
he recalled the night two weeks ago that Junbish fighters
carried off his family's possessions and murdered his shepherd
father.
"When my father wanted to leave the house to call for help, one
of the men shot him," he said, pointing at the back of his
head. "Then, they took 25 sheep and everything from our house.
"There are 30 houses in our village. They looted them all. They
said: 'You are Pashtun,' and took everything."
