Death of Osama bin Laden should be an opportunity to review the International Community's strategy towards Afghanistan

On Friday, the Society for Threatened People´s expert on questions regarding Afghanistan, Tillmann Schmalzried, demanded that the death of Osama bin Laden should be seen as an opportunity for the Federal Government to review the International Community's strategy towards Afghanistan. "It cannot be accepted, that a terrorist leader is eliminated, while Germany's Federal Government and the political parties tolerate Afghan warlords as partners of the International Community – although they are known to be responsible for mass murder. Instead, their war crimes should finally be brought to justice by international courts.

After the Al-Qaeda terrorist Osama bin Laden was killed, the debate about the mission in Afghanistan has flared up again – not only in the U.S., but also in Europe. Originally, the operation was meant to prevent Afghanistan from becoming origin of terrorist attacks once again and also to secure a basis for peace in this country: "These goals were torpedoed by the International Community's cooperation with warlords" says the speaker of the human rights organization.

Abdul Rab Rasul Sayyaf, a former partner of Osama bin Laden, is assigned to be head of the Afghan Supreme Court. In 1993, his militias mass-murdered more than 10,000 Shiite Hazara in Kabul. He has campaigned against the prosecution of war crimes by Afghan courts for years.

Abdul Rashid Dostum is a notorious warlord and military adviser to the Afghan President Karzai. His militias control several provinces in the Regional Command North – which is led by the Bundeswehr – and have committed several unpunished violations of human rights against minorities. He is also responsible for the massacre of at least 2,000 Taliban prisoners of war (November 2001). Because American soldiers were involved, the U.S. government is obstructing any prosecution.

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar is said to be responsible for the death of about 50,000 people by having the Afghan capital Kabul taken under missile-fire in the years 1993 to 1995. Now, his political party "Hezb-e Islami” holds ten governor-seats, a number of ambassadors and every fifth minister-seat in the Afghan government. Also, a Hezb-e Islami-official is head of the President's office since March 2011.