Afghan Mass Graves Spur Calls for Justice

"There were 60,000 civilians killed in Kabul alone during the civil war, and some of those responsible are sitting in parliament," said Nader Nadery, an official of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission. "If we don't see the minimum political will to deal with the issue of justice, people will just become more frustrated. These graves are stirring up terrible memories, and we cannot afford to ignore them." --- Yet both the United Nations and the Western governments that back Karzai have stopped short of calling for prosecutions of wartime abuses and investigations of mass graves, suggesting that preserving political stability is a more urgent priority. In recent weeks, a team of U.N. experts has been visiting some of the grave sites, but their mandate is only to teach Afghan police how to preserve the contents for any future investigation.