excerpt from India Times

Note: the following is a short excerpt from the India Times. While all such
reports should be looked at critically and not assumed to be absolutely
true, it is worth noting that the India Times is not a pro-Taliban news
source. The entire article can be found at:


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=366541514


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follows----------------------

Northern Alliance leader Burhanuddin Rabbani has declared amnesty for
Afghans in the rival camp after his forces took over Kabul on Tuesday,
Online news agency reported.

But Ebad-ur-Rehman, a middle-aged Afghan who reached Kandahar from Kabul a
day after the Northern Alliance entered the capital, said, "They (Northern
Alliance troops) were slaughtering people."

"They were killing people, especially Arabs and Pakistanis," Ebad said. "I
could have been among the deceased, but I saved myself by getting my long
beard shaved," he said.

He said Northern Alliance troops were looking for Taliban supporters.
Wherever they found men with long beards, they either killed or detained
them.

"Whoever could not speak Pushtu or Persian was killed on the spot. Whoever
they found to be Arab or Pakistani they sprayed with bullets," Ebad added.

"There was a hue and cry in the streets. The jubilant alliance troops
entered any house they wanted. They raped and dishonoured Afghan women and
even minor girls," he contended.

"I don't know much about other areas, but there was no law in Kabul. The
alliance troops were looting even personal belongings like jackets and
boots," he said.

"They were beating and spitting on the bodies of Taliban soldiers. I
personally saw that the Northern Alliance forces brought foreign media
cameramen and forced men to get their beards shaved and women to remove
burqas so the cameramen could record the scenes," Ebad said.

Online said BBC and some other agencies also endorsed Ebad's claim that
Northern Alliance was forcing women to remove burqas and men to shave their
beards.

Reports reaching here say several Pakistanis and Arabs were killed by
Northern Alliance forces in Mazar-e-Sharif after capturing it last week.
People had taken shelter in a local school when they were gunned down
without any warning.