The Northern Alliance and US were accused of mistreatment of prisoners, ignoring the Geneva conventions. The Northern Alliance were reportedly particularly hostile to the non-Afghan supporters of the Taliban. It was suggested that the US preferred to see as many as possible of the Taliban and al-Qaeda dead in preference to taking prisoners and attempting to prove alleged crimes in a court. Around 28 November an uprising by prisoners at the fort of Qalai Janghi, near Mazar-e Sharif, was put down by the Northern Alliance with General Abdul Rashid Dostum in command. The US bombed the fort and up to 400 hundred were killed, with about 80 survivers found a few days later. [Amnesty International]? called for an inquiry into the battle. The war continued in the south of the country, where the Taliban remained in control of Kandahar. Representatives of the Northern Alliance, the former monarch [Mohammad Zahir Shar]? and two other Afghan exile groups attended a conference held at Bonn, organised by the UN and starting on 27 November. An accord was signed on 05 December, with donor countries making the availability of reconstruction aid conditional on an agreement. The agreement established a 30-member interim administration, to rule for six months. A supreme court was to be set up and a Loya Jirga (a traditional assembly of tribes) would elect a transitional goverment, which would establish a constitution and organise elections about two years later. A multi-national peacekeeping force would secure Kabul. The Northern Alliance obtained the ministries of interior, defence and foreign affairs. It was agreed that the council should be headed by a Pashtun. [Hamid Karzai]? got the job, to take office on 22 December. At the time he was leading forces besieging Kandahar and a few days later he was narrowly missed by a US bomb. On the 05 December anti-Taleban forces were preparing to attack the Tora Bora cave complexes where bin Laden was suspected to be located. |