Afghan Massacre: The Convoy of Death

A 2002 documentary by Irish filmmaker Jamie Doran and Afghan journalist Najibullah Quraishi about alleged war crimes committed by Afghan Northern Alliance troops under General Abdul Rashid Dostum against Taliban fighters.  Quraishi was beaten almost to death when he tried to obtain video evidence of US Special Forces’ complicity in the massacre.  At least two of the witnesses who testified in the film are now dead.

The Taliban fighters, who had surrendered to Dostum’s troops after the November 2001 siege of Kunduz, were transported to Sheberghan prison in sealed containers.  It is estimated that hundreds or thousands of them died during and after transit.  Afghan Massacre: The Convoy of Death presents testimony from interviewees stating that American military personnel were present at and complicit in some of the mass killings, known as the Dasht-i-Leili massacre.

A short early version of the documentary was shown to the European and German Parliaments in June 2002, causing widespread concern in Europe.  Against protests from the United States government, the completed documentary was shown later that year on many countries’ national television channels, including German, British, Italian and Australian television.  The programmwas not screened in the U.S. and received no U.S. media coverage.