(20 Aug 2002)
1. Foreign Ministry spokesman Omar Samad
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Foreign Ministry spokesman, Omar Samad
"We do need to look seriously at this, because the policy of this government is to look at any and all allegations of human rights violations. I am sure that we will form a team that will go to the area. If we have to work with the UN or any other international agency or organisation we will."
3. Cutaway
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Foreign Ministry spokesman Omar Samad
"We have read the remarks that have been made by the American spokesperson and it's the position of, it would be the position of any country, any government to also look into these issues, because it's not something that one can ignore."
5. Cutaway
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Foreign Ministry spokesman Omar Samad
"I am sure that the government will respond and will take action, and will go and see to what extent this is true, to what extent what has happened, when did it happen, who did it involve and how it happened."
7. UN compound in Kabul
8. SOUNDBITE (English) UN Spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva
"An investigation confirmed the existence of a large grave area of recent origin and that three bodies were exhumed for autopsy. The autopsy showed the absence of blunt forced trauma, sharp force injury or firearm injury, which lead the team to conclude that the cause of death was consistent with death due to suffocation. While such findings called for a full fledged investigation, UNAMA (United Nations mission in Afghanistan) and the office of the High Commission of Human Rights jointly endorsed the recommendation of the forensic team that any further activity on the site be initiated only after an effective witness protection scheme has been put in place."
9. Cutaway
10. SOUNDBITE (English) UN Spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva
"Afghan transitional authorities have committed themselves to enhanced respect for human rights and justice, fight impunity and promote national reconciliation. UNAMA will continue to work with all Afghans in pursuit of these objectives."
11. Cutaway
12. SOUNDBITE (English) UN spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva
"There is no forensic expertise at this point in the country and if any investigation were to be undertaken it would need to have most likely international expertise."
13. UN compound in Kabul
STORYLINE:
The Afghan government is to send an investigative team to the site of an alleged mass grave, which is said to contain the remains of captured Taliban fighters who reportedly suffocated in shipping containers in last year's war.
The US administration has been pressing President Hamid Karzai's government about reports received by the US embassy in Kabul of human rights abuses and war crimes.
Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman Omar Samad said Kabul had not received any specific communication from Washington about the alleged mass grave, near the northern Afghanistan town of Sheberghan.
But he said his government's policy was to examine any allegations of human rights violations and added that he expected that a team would be formed to travel to the area.
Physicians for Human Rights, based in Boston, has demanded a commission of inquiry be appointed to investigate the alleged mass grave.
It's alleged that hundreds of Taliban prisoners died in the north after they surrendered last November.
There are additional, though unconfirmed reports, that many were forced into airless cargo containers where they died of asphyxiation.
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