Thousands flee ethnic violence in northern Afghanistan
Thousands of Afghans from the same ethnic group as the now-defunct Taliban regime are fleeing parts of northern Afghanistan, according to the United Nations.
Yusuf Hassan, a spokesman for the UN, said thousands of refugees have arrived in the south of country, where they told officials that the anti-Taliban warlords who now control the region are committing atrocities against ethnic Pashtuns. Mr Hassan said the UN has complained to the interim government led by Hamid Karzai, himself a Pashtun, but "many of those areas are areas where there is no national authority".
The Taliban government which ruled Afghanistan from 1996 until last year was comprised mainly of ethnic Pashtuns, while the US-backed Northern Alliance, which holds the balance of power in the interim administration, is comprised mainly of ethnic Tajiks and Uzbeks.
Pashtuns fleeing northern Afghanistan have claimed anti-Taliban commanders are currently encouraging people to rob, harass and kill the local Pashtun population.
"It is a very disturbing picture of gross human rights violations," Mr Hassan said.
"We have a substantial number . . . who have said that they have been forced off their land, that their houses have been looted, that they have been violently attacked. Some of them say their relatives have been killed in what appears to be increasing attacks against Pashtuns in Afghanistan."
