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Taliban Kill Afghan Interpreters Working for U.S. and Its Allies
E-MailPrint Reprints Save By RUHULLAH KHAPALWAK and CARLOTTA GALL
Published: July 4, 2006
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, July 3 — Troops of the American-led coalition in this country are taking a hard look at their security procedures after the deaths of at least 10 Afghans working as interpreters for the coalition in the last month, a military spokesman said Monday.
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The Reach of War
Go to Complete Coverage » Some were killed while accompanying foreign troops during combat, but others seem to have been singled out by Taliban insurgents for working for the coalition, other interpreters said.
Most of them are young Afghans who have taken English language courses in Afghanistan.
Taliban-led violence has increased significantly in the last six months, with insurgents making a determined show of force as NATO prepares to take over military command of southern Afghanistan from the United States later this month.
Many civilians have been caught in the violence, including more than 100 employees of the United States Agency for International Development in the last three years, according to the departing chief of the agency's mission in Afghanistan, Alonzo Fulgham. Most of those killed were Afghans, he said.
A spokesman for the coalition forces in southern Afghanistan, Maj. Quentin Innis of Canada, said that it was not clear if the interpreters had been killed specifically because of their work, but that coalition officials were concerned about the trend.
"It is a concern for us when any Afghans get killed," Major Innis said. "We are looking at how we can step up security."
Five of the interpreters were killed in a bus bombing on June 15 on their way to work at the American base outside Kandahar, the major said. Two were killed during combat operations in southern Afghanistan in the last month, he said, one on Saturday while working with British troops in Helmand Province, and the other in Zabul Province while working with American troops a month ago.
Three others were killed this week when they were driving west of the city of Kandahar and reached a Taliban checkpoint, Major Innis said. The interpreters were armed and engaged in a gun battle, he said.
A fourth interpreter managed to escape, a colleague said. The four were working at an American Special Forces base on the north side of the city.
One interpreter interviewed by telephone, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals, said he had resigned on Saturday because of the threat of violence. Taliban supporters spread leaflets warning people not to work for the foreign military, he said, adding that he knew of two additional colleagues who had been killed in the last week.
One, named Ahmed Shah, was shot and killed by Taliban insurgents while picnicking with friends in Sangesar, a town west of Kandahar, last week, the interpreter said. When the Taliban came across the group, they accused Mr. Shah of working for the American military. When he told them he would quit immediately, they reportedly said, "It's too late," and shot him dead in front of his friends, the interpreter said, citing witnesses at the picnic.
He added that another interpreter was shot dead in the street in the past week in Loya Wala, a northern district of the city. He said the victim, whom he did not identify by name, had received threats from the Taliban to give up his job with the coalition but had continued.
The interpreter who resigned on Saturday said he had felt under threat for some time and always covered his face with a scarf as he entered and left the Americans' Kandahar base. He said he had noticed men sitting on motorbikes outside the entrance watching who was going in and out of the base and suspected that they were Taliban spies.
A translator working for The New York Times in southern Afghanistan has also received indirect threats from people known to be close to the Taliban. The people said he had been spotted driving into the Kandahar base, described his car and cited the license plate.
The message from the Taliban, passed to a relative: "Tell him to stop working for the Americans."
The Taliban have killed aid workers, teachers, mullahs, tribal elders and civilian government officials in the last two years, in a campaign the insurgents say is aimed at undermining confidence in the government and the foreign forces.
A suicide bomber blew himself up in Kandahar outside a government guesthouse at 9 p.m. Monday, killing one policeman and wounding three other people.
Another bomb exploded in a women's classroom at the University of Herat on Monday, killing one student and badly shaking six others, a police official said. The bomb was left in a trash can, but it went off after the class had finished, when most students had left the room, said Nisar Ahmad Paikar, chief of the criminal department of the police in Herat.
Ruhullah Khapalwak reported from Kandahar for this article, and Carlotta Gall from Kabul. Sultan M. Munadi contributed reporting from Kabul. |
