Editing Dasht-i-Leili massacre

{{Short description|Massacre in Afghanistan}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2019}}
{{Infobox civilian attack
| title = Dasht-i-Leili massacre
| image = File:Mass grave from the Dasht-e-Leili massacre.jpg
| image_size = 275px
| alt = A picture of a mass grave from the Dasht-i-Leili massacre published by the United Nations and Physicians for Human Rights.
| caption = A picture of a mass grave from the Dasht-i-Leili massacre published by the [[United Nations]] and [[Physicians for Human Rights]].
| map = {{Location map many | Afghanistan
| width         = 275px
| float         = center
| marksize      = 8
| coordinates   = {{coord|36|39|24.17|N|65|42|20.71|E}}
| position      = left
}}
| location = West of [[Sheberghan]], [[Jowzjan Province]], [[Afghanistan]]
| target = [[Taliban]] [[Prisoner of war|prisoners of war]]
| coordinates = {{coord|36|39|24.17|N|65|42|20.71|E}}
| date = December 2001
| type = [[Massacre]]
| fatalities = 250–2,000
| perpetrators = {{flagicon|Afghanistan|1978a}} [[Junbish-i Milli]] fighters
| assailants = [[Abdul Rashid Dostum]] (alleged, denied by Dostum)
}}
{{Campaignbox Afghan War}}

The '''Dasht-i-Leili massacre''' occurred in December 2001 during the [[War in Afghanistan (2001–present)|U.S. invasion of Afghanistan]] when 250 to 2,000 [[Taliban]] prisoners were shot and/or suffocated to death in metal shipping containers while being transferred by [[Junbish-i Milli]] soldiers under the supervision of forces loyal to General [[Rashid Dostum]]<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/11/world/asia/11afghan.html|title=U.S. Inaction Seen After Taliban P.O.W.'s Died|first=James|last=Risen|date=10 July 2009|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=14 August 2019|archive-date=26 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190826183349/https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/11/world/asia/11afghan.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/01/world/study-hints-at-mass-killing-of-the-taliban.html |title=Study Hints at Mass Killing of the Taliban|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=May 2002|access-date=14 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202170819/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/01/world/study-hints-at-mass-killing-of-the-taliban.html |archive-date=2 February 2017 |url-status=live |last1=Gall|first1=Carlotta}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/14/opinion/14tue2.html |title=The Truth About Dasht-i-Leili|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=14 July 2009|access-date=14 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170120185716/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/14/opinion/14tue2.html |archive-date=20 January 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref> from [[Kunduz]] to [[Sheberghan]] prison in [[Afghanistan]]. The site of the graves is believed to be in the [[Dasht-e Leili]] desert just west of [[Sheberghan]], in the [[Jowzjan Province]].<ref name="Iol2002-05-02">{{cite news|url=http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3&art_id=qw1020329461747B212|title=Starved, hurt and buried alive in Afghanistan|date=2 May 2002 |publisher=[[Independent Online]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060613223632/http://iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3&art_id=qw1020329461747B212 |archive-date=13 June 2006|access-date=7 August 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=phr01>[http://physiciansforhumanrights.org/issues/mass-atrocities/afghanistan-war-crime/dasht-e-leili-photos.html Dasht-e-Leili Photos; Sheberghan Prison and Pit Locations at Dasht-e-Leili] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303010753/http://physiciansforhumanrights.org/issues/mass-atrocities/afghanistan-war-crime/dasht-e-leili-photos.html |date=3 March 2012 }}, Physicians for Human Rights, Retrieved 19 February 2012</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Opinion EDITORIAL The Truth About Dasht-i-Leili |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/14/opinion/14tue2.html |work=New York Times |date=July 13, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Assessments and Documentation in Afghanistan {{!}} Assessments in Afghanistan: Dasht-e-Leili |url=https://phr.org/issues/investigating-deaths-and-mass-atrocities/assessments-and-documentation-of-mass-crimes/assessments-in-afghanistan/assessments-in-afghanistan-dasht-e-leili-photos/ |website=Physicians for Human Rights }}</ref>

Some of the prisoners were survivors of the [[Battle of Qala-i-Jangi]] in [[Mazar-i-Sharif]]. In 2009, Dostum denied the accusations.<ref name=rferl>{{Cite news |url=http://www.rferl.org/content/It_Is_Impossible_Prisoners_Were_Abused/1779291.html|work=[[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty]] |title=It Is Impossible Prisoners Were Abused  |date=17 July 2009 |access-date=14 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090801071341/http://www.rferl.org/content/It_Is_Impossible_Prisoners_Were_Abused/1779291.html |archive-date=1 August 2009 |url-status=live |last1=Dostum |first1=Abdul Rashid }}</ref><ref name=nyt17july>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/world/asia/18dostum.html |title=Afghan Warlord Denies Links to '01 Killings  |work=[[The New York Times]]|date=18 July 2009 |access-date=14 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161030002400/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/world/asia/18dostum.html |archive-date=30 October 2016 |url-status=live |last1=Oppel |first1=Rich }}</ref><ref name=rferlresponse>{{Cite news |url=http://www.rferl.org/content/A_Response_To_General_Dostum/1779264.html |title=A Response To General Dostum|access-date=14 August 2019 |author=Saman Zia-Zarifi|work=[[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty]]|date=17 July 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090801071507/http://www.rferl.org/content/A_Response_To_General_Dostum/1779264.html |archive-date=1 August 2009 |url-status=live }}</ref> According to all sources, many of the prisoners died from suffocation inside the containers, and some witnesses claimed that those who survived were shot. The dead were buried in a mass grave under the authority of Commander Kamal.{{citation needed|date=August 2021}}

The allegations have been investigated since 2002 by [[Physicians for Human Rights]] (PHR). PHR conducted two forensic missions to the site under the auspices of the [[United Nations]] in 2002.<ref>Physicians for Human Rights, [http://afghanistan.phrblog.org/download/6/ Preliminary Assessment of Alleged Mass Gravesites in the Area of Mazar-I-Sharif, Afghanistan (Amended)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090615135938/http://afghanistan.phrblog.org/download/6/ |date=15 June 2009 }} (pdf), 2002. Report amended 12 December 2008; the original 2002 report is still available from Physicians for Human Rights [http://physiciansforhumanrights.org/forensic/contact/ on request] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080720084603/http://physiciansforhumanrights.org/forensic/contact/ |date=20 July 2008 }}.</ref> In 2008, PHR reported that the grave had been tampered with.<ref>Heidi Vogt,"[https://www.usatoday.com/news/world/asia/2008-12-12-2525047668_x.htm UN confirms Afghan mass grave site disturbed]," ''USA Today'', 12 December 2008.</ref>

==Controversy over responsibility and scale==
In late 2001, around 8,000 [[Taliban]] fighters, including [[Chechens]], [[Uzbeks]] and [[Arabs]] as well as suspected members of [[al-Qaeda]], surrendered to the [[Junbish-i Milli]] faction of [[United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan|Northern Alliance]] General [[Abdul Rashid Dostum]], a U.S. ally in the [[War in Afghanistan (2001–present)|war in Afghanistan]], after the [[siege of Kunduz]]. Several hundred of the prisoners, among them American [[John Walker Lindh]], came to be held in Qala-i-Jangi, a fort near [[Mazar-i-Sharif]], where they staged a bloody uprising which took several days to quell. The remaining 7,500 were loaded onto [[Containerization|containers]] for transport to [[Sheberghan Prison]], a journey that in some cases took several days.<ref name=Newsweek>{{Cite news |title=The Death Convoy Of Afghanistan |work=[[Newsweek]] |date=25 August 2002 |url=http://www.newsweek.com/death-convoy-afghanistan-144273 |access-date=14 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180504152126/http://www.newsweek.com/death-convoy-afghanistan-144273 |archive-date=4 May 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Human rights]] advocates say hundreds or thousands of them went missing.{{Citation needed|date=August 2019}}

In late 2001, Carlotta Gall, Jamie Doran and ''Newsweek'' began reporting rumors that Dostum's forces, who were fighting the Taliban alongside the US Special Forces, intentionally suffocated as many as 2,000 Taliban prisoners in container trucks in an incident that has become known as the Dasht-i-Leili massacre.<ref name=rferl/><ref name=nyt17july/><ref name=Newsweek/><ref>{{Cite web|title=PHR Activities and Investigations Concerning the Mass Gravesite at Dasht-e-Leili Near Sheberghan, Afghanistan |publisher=[[Physicians for Human Rights]] |url=http://afghanistan.phrblog.org/get-the-facts/chronology/ |access-date=7 July 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090615043011/http://afghanistan.phrblog.org/get-the-facts/chronology/ |archive-date=15 June 2009}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/23/world/nation-challenged-siege-fierce-fighting-erupts-near-kunduz-despite-surrender.html?pagewanted=all |work=The New York Times |title=A Nation challenged: Siege; Fierce Fighting Erupts Near Kunduz, Despite Surrender Deal |first1=Dexter |last1=Filkins |first2=Carlotta |last2=Gall |date=23 November 2001 |access-date=30 March 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141015033326/http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/23/world/nation-challenged-siege-fierce-fighting-erupts-near-kunduz-despite-surrender.html?pagewanted=all |archive-date=15 October 2014 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/08/world/asia/08warlords.html |work=The New York Times |title=Afghan Leader Courts the Warlord Vote |date=8 August 2009 |access-date=30 March 2010 |first=Richard A. |last=Oppel Jr |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171225040855/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/08/world/asia/08warlords.html |archive-date=25 December 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/05/world/a-nation-challenged-the-captives-prison-packed-with-taliban-raises-concern.html?pagewanted=all |work=The New York Times |title=A Nation challenged: The captives; Prison Packed With Taliban Raises Concern |first1=Carlotta |last1=Gall |first2=Mark |last2=Landler |date=5 January 2002 |access-date=30 March 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141015033318/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/05/world/a-nation-challenged-the-captives-prison-packed-with-taliban-raises-concern.html?pagewanted=all |archive-date=15 October 2014 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The first allegations that dozens of prisoners had suffocated in the containers appeared in a December 2001 article in ''[[The New York Times]]''.<ref name=NYT2001>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/11/international/asia/11JAIL.html |work=The New York Times |title=Witnesses Recount Taliban Dying While Held Captive |first=Carlotta |last=Gall |date=11 December 2001 |access-date=1 May 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090718205011/http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/11/international/asia/11JAIL.html |archive-date=18 July 2009}}</ref> A 2002 documentary named ''[[Afghan Massacre: The Convoy of Death]]'' by [[Jamie Doran]] produced testimony from eyewitnesses alleging hundreds or even thousands of prisoners had died, either during transport in the containers or being shot and dumped in the Dasht-i-Leili desert after arriving at the hopelessly overcrowded Sheberghan prison. Witnesses presented in the documentary also alleged that wounded and unconscious survivors of the container transports had been executed in the desert in the presence of U.S. soldiers. Doran's documentary, which was viewed by the European and German parliaments, caused widespread concern in Europe and among human rights advocates. It was not reported on in the United States mass media.<ref name="Zmag">{{cite news|url=http://www.zmag.org/zmag/viewArticlePrint/22393 |title=The Times Remembers the Dasht-e-Leili Massacre |last=Herman |first=Edward S. |author-link=Edward S. Herman |date=September 2009 |work=[[Z Magazine]] |access-date=7 September 2009}}{{dead link|date=December 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

{{quote box |width=15em |quote=We [the U.S. and Northern Alliance] could have wiped out every Talib on earth and no one would have cared ... There is no cover-up because nothing happened.... There are not that many bodies at Dasht-i-Leili |author=[[Robert Young Pelton]]|source=<ref name=Pelton/>}}

Allegations of American involvement were disputed by [[Robert Young Pelton]], who had been in the area reporting for [[National Geographic Society|National Geographic]] and [[CNN]]. Pelton also said the number of prisoners who suffocated in the containers was roughly 250, a far smaller number than alleged in Doran's documentary. He claims he saw US medics treating some of the prisoners. He says some of the bodies may be victims of the Taliban or of Malik's executions in the 1990s.<ref name=Pelton>{{cite web |url=http://www.uexpress.com/tedrall/?uc_full_date=20030204 |title=Welcome to uExpress featuring Ted Rall -- the Best Advice and Opinions the Universe! |access-date=26 August 2004 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040826194008/http://www.uexpress.com/tedrall/?uc_full_date=20030204 |archive-date=26 August 2004 }}</ref>

In 2016, Dostum spoke to [[Ronan Farrow]], reluctantly admitting that local commanders had loaded prisoners from the uprising at Qala-i-Jangi into multiple containers and that American forces had been present. Dostum denied that either he or the Americans murdered the prisoners and would not directly say whether he had ordered the commanders to do this nor whether witnesses were later killed.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Farrow|first1=Ronan|title=War On Peace: The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence|date=May 2018|publisher=W. W. Norton|location=New York|asin=B078ZKXM76|edition=Kindle}}</ref>

==Subsequent investigations==

[[File:Dasht-i-Leili massacre pits.svg|260px|thumb|Approximate location of pits, just west of [[Sheberghan]] on the road to [[Andkhoy (city)|Andkhoy]]. Based on article from Physicians for Human Rights<ref name=phr01/>]]

In 2002, [[Physicians for Human Rights]] (PHR) led an investigation of alleged mass gravesites at Mazar.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.physiciansforhumanrights.org/research/afghanistan/report_graves.html|title=Report: Preliminary Assessment of Alleged Mass Gravesites|date=19 July 2004|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040719061418/http://www.physiciansforhumanrights.org/research/afghanistan/report_graves.html|archive-date=19 July 2004}}</ref><ref>Smith, James F. [https://www.boston.com/news/world/worldly_boston/2009/07/ny_times_probe_cites_phrs_afgh.html "NY Times probe cites PHR's Afghan work"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090715082600/http://www.boston.com/news/world/worldly_boston/2009/07/ny_times_probe_cites_phrs_afgh.html |date=15 July 2009 }} in ''[[The Boston Globe]]'' (10 July 2009). Retrieved 25 October 2013.</ref> A UN forensic team found fifteen recently deceased bodies in a six-yard trial trench dug at a {{convert|1|acre|m2|adj=on}} grave site and performed an [[autopsy]] on three of them, concluding that they had been the victims of homicide, the cause of death being consistent with suffocation, as described by the eyewitness reports featured in Doran's film.<ref name=Dnow /> A major ''[[Newsweek]]'' article on the [[massacre]] appeared in August 2002, raising questions about America's responsibility for the war crimes committed by its allies. It quoted Aziz ur Rahman Razekh, director of the Afghan Organization of Human Rights, asserting "with confidence" that "more than a thousand people died in the containers."<ref name=Newsweek/>

The 2002 ''Newsweek'' article stated that "death by container" – locking prisoners in containers and leaving them to die in them – had been an established method of mass execution in Afghanistan for some years. As the containers were sealed, the prisoners began suffering from lack of air soon after being locked in them. According to witnesses in Doran's documentary, air holes were shot into the sides of some containers, killing several of those inside. ''Newsweek'' reported that drivers were punished for giving water to the prisoners, or punching holes into the containers. Survivors of the container transports, interviewed by ''[[Newsweek]]'', recalled that after 24 hours the bound prisoners were so thirsty that they resorted to licking the sweat of each other's bodies. Some bit into the bodies of fellow prisoners. In the containers of these survivors, only 20 to 40 prisoners of an original 150 or more were still alive when the containers arrived at their destination.<ref name=Newsweek/>

Further investigation of the mass grave sites were impeded by Rashid Dostum's continuing military control over the area and due to intimidation.<ref>John F. Burns, "Political Realities Impeding Full Inquiry Into Afghan Atrocity, ''The New York Times''", 29 August 2002.</ref> Physicians for Human Rights have claimed that the [[Presidency of George W. Bush|Bush administration]] consistently refused to respond to PHR's calls for investigation.<ref name="youtube.com">{{YouTube|EdZlIEVtzN8|War Crimes and the White House: The Bush Administration's Cover-Up of the Dasht-e-Leili Massacre}}, [[Physicians for Human Rights]]</ref> In 2008, the United States [[United States Department of Defense|Defense Department]] and [[United States Department of State|State Department]] released documentation per a [[Freedom of Information Act (United States)|Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)]] request by Raymond that indicated that 1,500 to 2,000 people were killed at Dasht-i-Leili.<ref name="auto"/><ref>[http://m.npr.org/story/106890883 "A Mass Grave In Afghanistan Raises Questions"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029192646/http://m.npr.org/story/106890883 |date=29 October 2013 }} on ''[[National Public Radio]]'' (23 July 2009). Retrieved 25 October 2013.</ref>

[[Ahmed Rashid]] wrote in 2008 that the prisoners were "stuffed in like sardines, 250 or more per container, so that the prisoners' knees were against their chests".<ref name=Rashid /> According to Rashid, only a handful survived in each of the thirty containers and UN officials reported that just six out of an original 220 survived in one of the containers.<ref name=Rashid /> The dead were buried by bulldozers in pits in the desert.<ref name=Rashid /> Rashid called the massacre "the most outrageous and brutal human rights violation of the entire war", which had occurred "despite the presence of US [[Special forces|SOF]] in the region."<ref name=Rashid>{{cite book|last=Rashid|first=Ahmed|author-link=Ahmed Rashid|title=Descent into Chaos: The U.S. and the Disaster in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia|year=2009|edition=revised|pages=93–94|publisher=National Geographic Books |isbn=978-0-14-311557-1}}</ref>

==American probe==
On 10 July 2009, an article on the massacre by [[Pulitzer Prize]]-winning journalist [[James Risen]] appeared in ''[[The New York Times]]''.<ref name="auto"/> Risen stated that human rights groups' estimates of the total number of victims "ranged from several hundred to several thousand" and that U.S. officials had "repeatedly discouraged efforts to investigate the episode".<ref name="auto"/> Questioned about the article by [[Anderson Cooper]] of [[CNN]] during a trip to [[Africa]], [[United States President]] [[Barack Obama]] was reported to have "ordered national security officials to look into allegations that the Bush administration resisted efforts to investigate a CIA-backed Afghan warlord over the killings of hundreds of Taliban prisoners in 2001."<ref name="Cnn2009-07-12">{{cite news|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/07/12/obama.afghan.killings/|title=Obama orders review of alleged slayings of Taliban in Bush era|date=12 July 2009|author=Anderson Cooper|author-link=Anderson Cooper|publisher=[[CNN]]|quote=President Obama has ordered national security officials to look into allegations that the Bush administration resisted efforts to investigate a CIA-backed Afghan warlord over the killings of hundreds of Taliban prisoners in 2001.|access-date=14 July 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090717022121/http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/07/12/obama.afghan.killings/|archive-date=17 July 2009|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="ForeignPolicyJournal2009-07-14">{{cite news|url=http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2009/07/14/the-convoy-of-death-will-obama-investigate-the-afghan-massacre-of-november-2001/|title=The Convoy of Death: Will Obama Investigate the Afghan Massacre of November 2001|date=14 July 2009|author=Andy Worthington|author-link=Andy Worthington|work=[[Foreign Policy Journal]]|access-date=14 July 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090722113013/http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2009/07/14/the-convoy-of-death-will-obama-investigate-the-afghan-massacre-of-november-2001/|archive-date=22 July 2009|url-status=live}}</ref>

Excerpts from Doran's documentary ''Afghan Massacre: The Convoy of Death'' were broadcast on ''[[Democracy Now!]]'' on 13 July 2009, with images from the documentary shown on the programme's website.<ref name=Dnow>Staff (13 July 2009). [http://i2.democracynow.org/2009/7/13/obama_calls_for_probe_into_2001 Obama Calls for Probe into 2001 Massacre of at Least 2,000 Suspected Taliban POWs by US-Backed Afghan Warlord] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090805052345/http://i2.democracynow.org/2009/7/13/obama_calls_for_probe_into_2001 |date=5 August 2009 }}, ''[[Democracy Now!]]''</ref> The programme, which featured James Risen and Susannah Sirkin, deputy director of [[Physicians for Human Rights]], claimed that "at least 2,000" prisoners of war had perished in the massacre.<ref name=Dnow /> Sirkin confirmed the claims made in ''Afghan Massacre: The Convoy of Death'' that eyewitnesses who had come forward with information on the incident had been tortured and killed, and stated that a [[Freedom of Information Act (United States)|FOIA]] document showed that the "U.S. government and, apparently, intelligence agency – it's a three-letter word that’s redacted of an intelligence branch of the U.S. government in the FOIA – they knew and reported that eyewitnesses to this massacre had been killed and tortured."<ref name=Dnow />

Risen commented in the programme that in writing his article he "tried not to get caught up in something that I think in the past has slowed down some of the efforts by journalists to look into this. I think in the past one of the mistakes some journalists made was to try and prove a direct involvement by the U.S. personnel in the massacre itself. I frankly don't believe that any U.S. military personnel were involved in the massacre. And, you know, U.S. Special Forces troops who were traveling with Dostum have long maintained that they knew nothing about this. And, you know, so I tried not to go down that road." He added that "the investigation should focus rather on what happened afterwards in the Bush administration."<ref name=Dnow />

A ''New York Times'' editorial on 14 July 2009 called the Bush administration's refusal to investigate a "sordid legacy".<ref name="Editorial" /> Noting that Dostum was "on the C.I.A. payroll and his militia worked closely with United States Special Forces in the early days of the war", the editorial asked President Obama to "order a full investigation into the massacre. The site must be guarded and witnesses protected."<ref name="Editorial">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/14/opinion/14tue2.html?ref=asia |work=The New York Times |title=The Truth About Dasht-i-Leili |date=14 July 2009 |access-date=1 May 2010 |archive-date=14 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130514144618/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/14/opinion/14tue2.html?ref=asia |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Edward S. Herman]], writing in ''[[Z Magazine]]'', commented that this renewed interest by ''The New York Times'' in the massacre, after a 7-year silence on the matter, was rather late in coming and coincided with Dostum's restoration to a position of power in Afghanistan prior to the August 2009 elections, in a move that the U.S. administration disapproved of.<ref name="Zmag" /> Herman said that ''The New York Times'' had essentially looked whichever way the current U.S. administration had wanted it to look for the best part of a decade, and that this was also "part of the sordid legacy of the ''New York Times''."<ref name="Zmag" />

On 17 July 2009, in an article published by ''[[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty]]'', Dostum, recently reappointed to his government job by Afghan President [[Hamid Karzai]], again described Doran's film as a "fake story", saying that the whole number of prisoners of war captured by his troops was less than the number Doran's film claimed had been killed, and denying there could have been any abuse of prisoners.<ref name=rferl/> Dostum's column was sharply criticised by human rights groups.<ref name=nyt17july/> In a rebuttal published by ''Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty'' in parallel to Dostum's piece, [[Sam Zarifi]], the Asia-Pacific director for [[Amnesty International]] and a human rights investigator in Afghanistan in 2002, stated that "investigations carried out shortly after the alleged killings by highly experienced and respected forensic analysts from Physicians for Human Rights established the presence of recently deceased human remains at Dasht-e Leili and suggested that they were the victims of homicide."<ref name=nyt17july/><ref name=rferlresponse/>

In December 2009 [[Physicians for Human Rights]] (PHR) renewed its call for the Obama administration's Department of Justice to investigate why the Bush administration impeded an FBI criminal probe in the wake of the 10 July 2009 front-page article in ''The New York Times''. On 26 December 2009, the [[Asian Tribune]] published the full transcript of a video interview given by the officials of Physicians for Human Rights, detailing nearly eight years of advocacy and investigation.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.asiantribune.com/news/2009/12/26/brutal-massacre-white-flag-bearing-taliban-surrendees-under-us-watch-no-criminal-pro |title=Brutal massacre of white flag-bearing Taliban surrendees under US watch: No criminal probe yet |access-date=26 December 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100102004502/http://asiantribune.com/news/2009/12/26/brutal-massacre-white-flag-bearing-taliban-surrendees-under-us-watch-no-criminal-pro |archive-date=2 January 2010 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==See also==
* ''[[Afghan Massacre: The Convoy of Death]]''
* [[List of massacres in Afghanistan]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist|2}}

==External links==
* United States Department of Defense. "[[:File:Dasht-i-Leili Defense Department FOIA.pdf|Freedom of Information Act Release to Physicians for Human Rights Regarding Dasht-i-Leili]]" (4 August 2008).
* United States Department of State. "[[:File:Dasht-i-Leili State Department FOIA.pdf|Freedom of Information Act Release to Physicians for Human Rights Regarding Dasht-i-Leili]]" (19 September 2008).
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090805052345/http://i2.democracynow.org/2009/7/13/obama_calls_for_probe_into_2001 Obama Calls for Probe into 2001 Massacre of at Least 2,000 Suspected Taliban POWs by US-Backed Afghan Warlord], ''[[Democracy Now!]]'' (2009-07-13)
* [http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20040112223857/http%3A//www.acftv.com/archive/article.asp?archive_id%3D1 Afghan Massacre: The Convoy of Death] by [[Jamie Doran]]
* [http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/05/26/1632226&mode=thread&tid=25 Interview on the film with Jamie Doran] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071116125937/http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/05/26/1632226&mode=thread&tid=25 |date=16 November 2007 }}, ''[[Democracy Now!]]'' (2003-05-26)
* {{YouTube|EdZlIEVtzN8|War Crimes and the White House: The Bush Administration's Cover-Up of the Dasht-e-Leili Massacre}}, [[Physicians for Human Rights]]
* [https://swap.stanford.edu/20100312073854/http%3A//afghanistan.phrblog.org/ Afghanistan Mass Grave: The Dasht-e-Leili War Crimes Investigation]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20040826194008/http://www.uexpress.com/tedrall/?uc_full_date=20030204 Robert Young Pelton responds to Dasht-i-Leili story]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090422060348/http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/57649.html As possible Afghan war-crimes evidence removed, U.S. silent], by Tom Lasseter, ''McClatchy Newspapers''b, 11 December 2008
* [http://www.newsweek.com/id/65473 Special Report: The Death Convoy Of Afghanistan], by Babak  Dehghanpiseh, John Barry and Roy Gutman, ''Newsweek'', 26 August 2002
* [http://www.antiwar.com/orig/rissman1.html Slow Death on the Jail Convoys of Misery], by Jim Rissman, ''Antiwar.com'', 11 July 2002

{{Afghanistan War}}
{{WoTPrisoners}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dasht-I-Leili Massacre}}
[[Category:2001 massacres of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)]]
[[Category:Mass murder in 2001]]
[[Category:History of Balkh Province]]
[[Category:December 2001 in Afghanistan]]
[[Category:2001 murders in Afghanistan]]
[[Category:Afghan war crimes]]